Renowned coach Dmitruk will now guide Indian boxing team
- New Delhi: Renowned coach Dmitry Dmitruk will add some Irish flavour to Indian boxing. He was on Tuesday appointed as the chief foreign coach of the country's Indian boxing in Oct 2022. elite men and women's teams for a period of two years. The 47-year-old Dmitruk's first big assignment as coach will be the upcoming Women's World Boxing Champion- ships, scheduled to be held here from March 15-26.
- The former Russian boxing professional, who holds an Irish passport, joined the Indian women's squad preparing for the Worlds at NIS Patiala on Monday after completing his contractual formalities. Dmitruk's appointment has come four months after former Irish professional boxer, Bernard Dunne, was named the high-performance director for Indian boxing in Oct 2022.
- The two veterans had formed a successful partnership with Georgian coach Zaur Antia at the Irish Athletics Boxing Association during their stints with the Dublin-based body. They were instrumental in the rise of Kellie Harrington who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics in the women's light- weight division (57-60kg) the only gold won by Ireland at the Games.
- The trio was involved in securing nine of Ireland's 17 Olympic medals in the boxing ring. With the arrival of Dmitruk and Dunne, Indian boxing is likely to adopt the "Irish way to box". For the record, boxing has, by far been, Ireland's most successful sport at the Olympics, accounting for more than 50 percent of their medals won.
- "India has emerged as a boxing powerhouse in recent times and I am extremely delighted to get the opportunity of coaching this talented group of pugilists," Dmitruk said on his appointment. "With the experience I have garnered in my career, I am confident that we will continue to achieve similar glory in prestigious tournaments together. I am excited to start working with the team and contribute to raising the bar of performances over the next couple of years," added Dmitruk, who will also be looking after the interests of junior and youth category boxers.
- He will work closely with both men's chief coach CA Kuttappa and women's head coach Bhaskar Bhatt.
- Speaking on Dmitruk's appointment, BFI president Ajay Singh said: "We have full faith in his abilities to mentor the talented boxers of our country."