New Delhi, 07 October (H.S.): Following a stellar campaign at the 2026 Asian Games, Indian women’s boxing head coach Santiago Nieva has set his sights firmly on the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, with securing as many qualification quotas as possible at the earliest stage emerging as his next major target. Indian women boxers won three medals at the Asian Games, including two gold.

The first major qualification pathway for the Olympics will begin with the 2027 World Championships in Kazakhstan.

Speaking to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Media, Nieva said, “The first qualifier will be in Kazakhstan, which is the World Championships, where ideally we would like to secure as many quotas as possible. After that, there will be the Asian Olympic Qualifier, followed by two more Olympic qualifiers in 2028.”

Indian women boxers had earlier secured six medals, including five gold, at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Their three-medal haul at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games subsequently capped a remarkable year for Indian women’s boxing. Nieva’s objective is to have as many of his boxers as possible qualify for the Los Angeles Olympics at an early stage, giving the team sufficient time to prepare specifically for the Games.

“If we can ideally qualify early next year, we will have enough time to prepare well. It will be a tough qualification pathway, and hopefully we can qualify as many boxers as possible so that we can build a strong team for the Olympics,” Nieva said.

Nieva previously served as India’s High Performance Director for boxing from 2017 to 2021. His second stint in the Indian boxing setup began in 2025, when he took charge as head coach of the national women’s team. The Argentine coach attributed the team’s success this year to a year-long preparation programme that included strong international competitions, domestic training camps and high-level sparring.

Ahead of the major international competitions this year, the Indian women’s boxing team underwent intensive training at the National Centre of Excellence of the Sports Authority of India in Patiala. Highlighting the importance of the support structure available to the team, Nieva said around 40 professionals work with the boxers at the Patiala centre, including approximately 20 coaches and 20 other support staff.

“We have a staff of 40 people working with the boxers, including around 20 coaches and 20 other support staff. There have been improvements in sports science, the boxing hall, boxing equipment and other areas,” he said.

Nieva said the support system now matches the standards of some of the best boxing programmes internationally.

“I would say there are not many countries that have a better support system than this,” he said.

Before travelling to Japan, India also invited teams from the Dominican Republic and Iran to Patiala for training and preparation. The Indian boxers subsequently benefited from high-level sparring during the final phase of their preparations in Japan.

“Our final preparation in Japan was good, and we also got some good sparring there. We went to the Asian Games very well prepared. However, we cannot stop at this performance. We have to keep looking ahead, and ultimately, we all want to achieve a big result at the next Olympics,” Nieva said.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar