In a bizarre turn of events, the team doctor of India’s boxing contingent at the 2022 Commonwealth Games has left the games village. The twelve Indian boxers are now left without a team doctor, which could lead to serious problems should someone sustain an injury.
Interestingly, this development comes only hours after Lovlina Borgohain’s coach, Sandhya Gurung got her accreditation and was subsequently granted access to the event.
On Monday, Borgohain uploaded a statement on Twitter, where she mentioned both of her coaches, including Gurung, had not been granted access to the games village, which subsequently in causing mental harassment.
The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) provided a clarification, saying the rule of having a maximum of 33% of the playing contingent as support staff, was the reason behind the delay in Gurung's accreditation process. With India sending 12 boxers to Birmingham, four support staff were expected to be granted accreditation, before the number was doubled to eight following intervention from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
“Only 33 per cent of the playing contingent is allowed as 'Support Staff' which in BFI's case for the 12 boxers (8 men and 4 women) stands to be 4 support staff, (including coaches) who were to travel with the Team to Birmingham With IOA's help the number of support staff went up from 4 to 8 for the entire contingent of 12 boxers,” the BFI mentioned in their statement previously.
Doctor’s Eviction Could Be Related to Restriction on Number of Support Staff
With the doctor being removed from the games village merely hours after Gurung's arrival, some reports suggest it was done to ensure India does not have more than eight support staff in their boxing contingent.
Borgohain, a Bronze medallist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, will start her Commonwealth Games campaign on Saturday, with a round of 16 clash. Besides her, Nitu Ganghas, Nikhat Zareen and Jaismine Lamboria are the other Indian female boxers who will be seen in action at Birmingham. With the doctor no longer available, the Indian boxers can now only hope for an injury-free campaign.
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