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Make way for boxer Lovlina’s personal coach
Indian women's boxing team head coach Bhaskar Bhatt has moved out of his room at the Commonwealth Games Village here to accommodate Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain's personal coach Sandhya Gurung.
Bhatt has checked into a designated Games hotel nearby.
"I have moved to a hotel which is a 10-minute walk from the Village," Bhatt told PTI.
It was a voluntary move by the national team head coach, who ensured that team's only Olympic medallist pugilist is in good mental frame with her coach around with her.
"I volunteered to do it (give up his room) as it's all ghar ka mamla (internal matter) and it's best to sort out such things amongst ourselves," the soft-spoken Bhatt added.
Bhatt, who took over the senior women's head coach's job last year, still has access to all the venues and the Games Village. The only change being that he won't be able to stay inside the Village at night.
"I have all the required access, so it's not a problem for me," Bhatt said.
Under Bhatt, the Indian women's team returned with three medals, including a gold, at the World Championship in May.
On Monday, Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina had claimed that her preparation was getting affected due to the "continuous harassment" of her coaches.
Gurung was added to the Indian contingent just days before the Games were to begin, which resulted in a delay in her accreditation.
On her arrival in Birmingham on Sunday, she was not allowed to enter the Village as she did not have an accreditation, triggering a Twitter tirade from her ward. She was checked in to hotel where the extra officials were staying.
In a long social media post on Monday, Lovlina said she was feeling "mentally harassed" as it was a struggle to get her coaches added to the squad.
In its defence, the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) said that as per rules only 33 per cent of the playing contingent is allowed as support staff.
The Indian boxing contingent has 12 playing members (8 men and 4 women) and as per rules, the number of support staff will be four, which includes travelling coaches.
The quota was, however, increased to eight with the help of the IOA.
Gurung received her accreditation on Tuesday but it came at the expense of team doctor Karanjit Chib, who will also need a permission letter from the CDM every single day during the Games.
Chib was among the eight boxing officials in the Indian contingent, however to accommodate Gurung, his accreditation was changed to that of P-coach.
"The team doctor's accreditation was changed to P-coach. That means he will have to get a permission letter/pass from the chef de mission every morning to access the Games Village," BFI Executive Director Col Arun Malik said.
"By changing the accreditation, we kept the number of officials the same inside the camp and the adjustment was done and that's how it benefitted everyone.
"The doctor will be staying in the hotel and will be available all day long and during training," Malik added.
The team doctors are anyway not present ring side as the doctors provided by the organisers take care of all the medical needs of the boxers during bouts.