With the Indian boxers hitting a purple patch in the past few months,the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) is trying to cash in on their popularity,as well as the Sports Ministrys offer to appoint a foreign coach to train the countrys senior boxers for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and other forthcoming international events. After failing to find a suitable candidate from the available list,the IABF is determined to continue shopping for a suitable candidate in Becancour,near Montreal,during this months AIBA Judges and Referees Commission meeting later this month. IABF secretary-general Col. PK Muralidharan Raja,who will be attending the meeting in his capacity as chairman of the Judges and Referees Commission from Asia,confirmed that the national federation is desperately looking for a coach to train senior boxers. We have asked the sports ministry for an additional foreign coach to look after the seniors while the existing coach (BI Fernandez) will be asked to look after the juniors, he said. Raja said that the core group of boxers selected for the New Delhi Games will be put under the new coach along with national coach GS Sandhu. Since Fernandez knows the juniors well,we want him to groom the youngsters, he added. Meanwhile,of the 44 pugilists selected for the national camp,over a dozen attended the session on Monday at NIS,Patiala.
