Indian boxing: Irish great Bernard Dunne named High Performance Director

New Delhi, Oct 17 (PTI) Irish boxing legend Bernard Dunne, who has produced Olympic and world champions, was on Monday named the High Performance Director for Indian boxing.

A renowned name in the world of boxing, Dunne will be joining the Indian team following a successful five-year stint with Irish Athletic Boxing Association, serving in the same position.

The 42-year-old, who has won the WBA World Championship (2009) and the European Championship (2007), will take over the position which was left vacant after Santiago Nieva's departure.

"India has huge boxing talent and its boxers have been performing exceedingly well," said Dunn.

"It will be a great opportunity for me to work with them and contribute to their success. I'm very excited to join the team and take the standards of Indian boxing to a new high altogether," he added.

Indian boxers have produced brilliant performances in the last few years at the prestigious events including World Championships, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.

The arrival of the Irishman surely comes as a significant step for the development of Indian boxing.

"We are delighted to announce Bernard Dunne as the high-performance director of the Indian team. He was a legendary boxer and has also done exceptionally well while working with the Ireland team," Boxing Federation of India President Ajay Singh said.

"As a federation, we are focussed on doing everything that is required for our boxers to bring glory to the country. This is a major boost to our aim of winning medals at the Paris Olympics." During Dunne's tenure with the Ireland team, Kellie Harrington emerged the Olympic champion in Tokyo as well as the world champion in 2018.

He also guided Amy Broadhurst and Lisa O'Rourke to gold medals at the last World Championships, and Aidan Walsh to bronze medal at the 2020 Olympic Games.

Dunne led the Irish high-performance boxing team from 2017 to 2022, and under his leadership they performed at the highest level, winning European, World and Olympics gold medals.

Dunne, who has 13 national titles to his name, has joined the Indian boxing elite programme at Patiala. PTI APA AH AH