Bernard Dunne has been officially declared the head of India’s High Performance boxing. The former professional world champion, who resigned from a similar post in Irish boxing about six months ago, joins USA’s Billy Walsh as one of two former top Irish coaches who will now compete against Ireland at the next Olympic Games in Paris 2024.
The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) tweeted the appointment of the 42-year-old on Monday as a replacement for Santiago Nieva citing the emergence of Kellie Harrington as Olympic champion at Tokyo 2020 as well as the world champion in 2018.
Dunne also guided Amy Broadhurst and Lisa O’Rourke to gold medals at the last world boxing championships and Aidan Walsh to a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.
“He was a legendary boxer and has also done exceptionally well while working with the Ireland team,” BFI president Ajay Singh told the Hindustan Times. “As a federation, we are focused on doing everything that is required for our boxers to bring glory to the country.”
Dunne left his position of High Performance Director in acrimonious circumstances, when a document purporting to be an assessment of Irish boxing was passed around and discussed at board level within the organisation.
Dunne issued a complaint in writing to the IABA last November, alleging his position had been undermined by the unsigned “SWOT Analysis Position Paper”, which made spurious claims to have been written after a survey on Irish boxing, that he considered highly damaging to his position.
The document, according to Sport Ireland, had “no merit.” Dunne, who was not consulted or given opportunity to contribute to the document, believed it undermined him both personally and professionally.
In his complaint, he named two IABA Board members he believed had an involvement in the drafting of the letter, which drew damaging and unsubstantiated conclusions.
Dunne did not return to his post as HP Director after the Tokyo Games and after a proposed hearing into his complaint against the two board members was postponed in early May left the organisation.
An independent review suggested that major restructuring should take place. Chairman Ciarán Kirwan and Chief Executive Fergal Carruth then offered their resignations in August following rejection by delegates of the proposals on the adoption of good corporate governance.
Dunne flew out to New Delhi last Thursday but is based in Patiala, a city in the N]northeast of the country’s Punjab region.
“This is a major boost to our aim of winning medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics,” added Singh. “With the amount of experience and success he has under his belt, he is the perfect fit for this role. I’m sure Dunne will guide our boxers to the next level of performance.”
