Indian boxing team’s high-performance director Santiago Nieva resigns, will move to Australia

New Delhi, May 7

The high-performance director of the Indian boxing team, Santiago Nieva, has resigned from his post.

He has accepted an offer from Boxing Australia to become their high-performance manager. He had appeared for an online interview only five days before. The Australian body had asked him to join immediately, but Nieva insisted that he needed a month to sort all paperwork.

Santiago has already sent in his resignation to the Boxing Federation of India (BFI), which will be accepted. Santiago has also informed the team of the development and asked for the team’s forgiveness for taking up a role with Australia ahead of important competitions.

Santiago’s resignation could impact Indian boxers’ performance ahead of the Commonwealth Games, 2022. Santiago was not a popular member of the staff; boxers have often pointed fingers at him for favouring a few individuals in the team.

Santiago, it is said, was also miffed and was feeling ignored after he was asked to take more responsibility of training Indian coaches, which resulted in his touring with the team.

A number of coaches, including a few who returned from Tokyo empty-handed, had complained to the BFI, privately against Santiago. Despite the complaints, the BFI retained his services and also increased his salary.