Boxing coach Roland Simms has prepared specific training plans for Olympics-bound boxers Vikas Krishan and Ashish Kumar.
The two are now in quarantine before joining the Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) camp at Vijayanagar, Karnataka.
According to Simms, former World championships bronze medallist Vikas, who switched back from professional boxing to try his luck in the Olympics, needs to be trained to handle the demands of professional and amateur boxing.
“Vikas plans to get in a few professional bouts by the first few months of 2021. So, we have to maintain his weight and make sure that his professional style of boxing complements his amateur style,” Simms said in an interaction with The Hindu.
“With Ashish, initially the focus will be on rehab from the slight injury he picked up at the (Olympic) qualifiers.
“We’ll have to discuss his strategy with the National coaching team (Santiago Nieva and C.A. Kuttappa), see what they have planned for him. Speaking of Vikas, since his focus will be on the professional circuit, we will be working on that basis, while for Ashish we’ll have to see where the national team is going to train for us to be able to take a call.”
Regular classroom
On the training sessions for different levels of boxers at the IIS, Simms said: “We have the regular classroom (theory) sessions after which we do conditioning and then individual technical training like the basic fundamentals of punching, footwork and defence.”
