Lack of infrastructure dealing a blow to boxing in AP

VISAKHAPATNAM: Former boxers and present day boxing coaches believe that despite all the promises being made there is hardly any infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh to nurture the sport and tap the talent available.Experts believe that unlike states like Haryana and Punjab, where sports infrastructure, especially for boxing and wrestling, is well developed, in AP the government agencies have completely ignored the development of infrastructure, except in places like Vizag and Hyderabad. GV Ravi Raju, secretary, AP Boxing Association, said, "There is just one academy, that too the Government of India run Sports Authority of India (SAI) sports training centre, for the 13 districts of AP. It has, at present, 30 male and female boxers. Of these 80% are national level boxers and eight international boxers, both at the senior and junior levels. All the international boxers are medalists.""Almost 90% of the boxers in the academy are from Visakhapatnam. With all the major infrastructure for the sport concentrated in Hyderabad, the fate of boxing in AP is hanging by a thread," he rued.Renowned boxing coach and Dronacharya awardee I Venkateswara Rao said a way out of the situation is to ensure collaboration of corporates, public sector units and sports authorities and take the sport to the rural to broaden the talent pool. "Today, almost all kids go to school and there are rural sports as well. If the government spends a little on promoting this sport at the grassroots level by building basic infrastructure at the tehsil and block levels, we can have a large pool of talent from each district. If this is done meticulously and the state government develops at least one academy for every two districts we can have a pool of boxers 20 times the existing number," said Rao."Boxing is a contact sport and a dangerous one. Pugilists need to have a strong heart and such talent is available in the rural areas, where people are both physically strong and mentally tough. A sports culture should be developed in the rural belt and that is where agencies such as SAAP should focus," said boxers of yesteryears Suri Babu. He, however, pointed out that to achieve this, physical infrastructure needs to be developed on a larger scale. "Organisations such as VPT, RINL-VSP can provide infrastructure for the general public. If they do so things can improve,"Without financial support even from the PSUs or any development of infrastructure, the experts said the future of this sport in the state is bleak.