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Nervous energy helps, feels boxing coach Nieva

By The Assam Tribune

NEW DELHI, March 19: Confidence becomes the buzzword before any major sporting event but Indian boxing�s High-Performance Manager Santiago Nieva prefers a bit of nervous energy heading into next month�s Commonwealth Games because �that�s what gets the best out of everyone�.

The 43-year-old Argentina-born Swede would be exactly one year into his job when the Games get underway in Gold Coast from April 4. Indian boxers had claimed four silver and a bronze at the last edition in 2014 and the country stands 12th in the all-time list with five gold, nine silver and 14 bronze medals in all.

In an interview to PTI before the team of eight men and four women boxers left for a pre-CWG training trip at Canberra, Nieva dwelled on India�s medal chances and the discontent triggered by a brand new selection policy.

�Yeah, it�s going to be my CWG debut. I have been at the Pan-American Games (while competing and later managing Argentina), the Olympics and now the Commonwealth Games which will be followed by the Asian Games. I will cover everything this year,� Nieva said.

Nieva was initially brought in as the coach for male boxers before being elevated to the position of High-Performance Director (both men and women) after the world championships last year.

�I prefer to be a tiny bit nervous before such events because that helps in pulling the best out of not just yourself but also others. So, yeah, I would rather be a little nervous than too confident,� he added.

In a departure from convention, boxers for six of the eight men�s weight categories at CWG were picked without trials.

A points system, put in place last October, was used to judge their performances starting with the national championships.

The methodology caused a fair bit of heartburn among the boxers and questions about the fairness of the process. Nieva defended the new system and insisted that it would remain in practice. � PTI

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