GANG TOK: Boxer Lovlina Borgohain has made allegations of ‘continuous harassment’ by the Boxing Federation of India after her coach Sandhya Gurung was denied entry to train her at the Games village in Birmingham as part of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
The 24-year-old boxer claimed that her coaching schedule has been disrupted due to the bullying her coaches face as they are not allowed to enter the premises where she is currently training.
The ace boxer expressed her anger on Twitter, writing: “Every time my coaches, who helped me medal in the Olympics, were removed from my training process and competition. One of these coaches, Sandhya Gurung ji, is also a winner from Dronacharya. Despite thousands of requests, they are always allowed to be late for my training. This hinders my training and causes me a lot of hardship and mental intimidation.”
“Now my coach Sandhya Gurung ji is from Commonwealth village because she has no access, and my training has been stopped eight days before the games. My other coach has been sent back to India, despite multiple requests from me. I don’t understand how to focus on my game. This situation also ruined my performance in the last world championships. I don’t want this politics ruining my Commonwealth Games too. I hope I can break this policy and win a medal for my country. Jai Hind,” she posted.
Lovlina, who became the first Assamese woman to represent India in the Olympics, is currently preparing for the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, which are scheduled to take place from July 28 to August 8.
Lovlina’s coach Sandhya Gurung reached Birmingham from Ireland on Sunday evening where she was training.
Speaking exclusively to EastMojo from Birmingham, Sandhya Gurung shared: “What she has said is that I was not with the team before so it was justified to be denied. But this time I am with the team. So what Lovlina forward is understandable I have a valid accreditation as a coach so I must not be stopped They say it will work tonight There are other coaches and we are staying in a different hotel It’s just that I’m not at the players are allowed to stay. We can’t meet the players because I don’t have an accreditation for that yet.”
Gurung brought some positivity in her statement, stating: “We’ll see what happens in the evening when the organizers say they will clean up the mess. We shouldn’t make hasty decisions just yet. It could be a mistake.”
However, it seems that the difficulty to get in is only at Sandhya Gurung.
She stated: “For now, the fault is only with me, there are 3 coaches for the men’s team and there are two others for women besides me. I’m here for the women’s team. Of the three of us, I’m the only one who gets rejected because I don’t have an accreditation card have”.
Sandhya claimed that Lovlina was upset because she was unable to train on Monday morning, 4 days before the tournament.
“We were in Ireland and we arrived here last night. Training was underway in Ireland, we will train here for four days before the Games start on July 29. We were supposed to train in the morning, but that didn’t happen, that’s why she responded,” Gurung said.
Several attempts by EastMojo to contact the Secretary General of the Boxing Federation of India, Hemanta Kalita, failed as he failed to return phone calls.
However, he told a leading sports magazine that the federation tried to get accreditation for Lovlina’s coach Sandhya Gurung but was unable to do so.
“The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) awarded 25 percent officials out of the total number of athletes. We have 12 athletes, so we have four officials. After that we made a request and we got four more. This includes coaches, a doctor, physio, etc. We have put Sandhya Gurung’s name on the long list, we have asked for her admission, the SAI has also sanctioned her name, but the IOA is not doing it,” Kalita told Sports star magazine.
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