Commonwealth Games: Lovlina Borgohain coach gets BFI’ support, will get entry in CWG village

Commonwealth Games 2022: India’s Olympic medalist winner Lovlina Borgohain, who won a bronze medal in boxing at the Tokyo Olympics, had alleged mental harassment ahead of the Commonwealth Games. The 2022 Commonwealth Games will be held in Birmingham from July 28. Lovlina had accused the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) of not allowing her coach to enter the Commonwealth Games Village due to the politics of the association.

Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina had claimed that her preparations for the Commonwealth Games were being affected due to the

“constant harassment” of her coach. Sandhya is also the assistant coach of the Indian team . He was included in the Indian contingent just a few days before the competition. On reaching here on Sunday, he was not allowed to enter the Games Village as he did not have the accreditation which led to a controversy.

An Indian Olympic Association (IOA) official said,

“Sandhya was brought to the Boxing Games Village this morning and given accreditation. He is now with the team.” Sandhya has also been given a room in the Games Village. On Monday, Lovlina had put up a long post on social media saying that she feels that she is being subjected to mental harassment as she is struggling to get her coach included in the team.

She wrote, “Today I am saying with great sadness that I am being constantly tortured (mentally). The coach who helped me get a medal at the Olympics is always thrown out which affects my training schedule.”

Lovlina, who won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year, had credited Sandhya for recovering from a bad mental condition before the Games. Sandhya was also with Lovlina during a 15-day training camp in Ireland ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

The BFI said in a statement that as per the rules, the number of support staff in the contingent is one-third (33 per cent) of the number of players. According to this, there can be four associate members with the team. “The requirement of boxing is a bit different with regard to the coach and support staff as there can be multiple bouts one after the other. “With the help of IOA, the number of support staff for a contingent of 12 boxers has been increased from four to eight,” the statement said.