C.A. Kuttappa to lead a team of nine pugilists for post-COVID Olympics

India’s Chief Men’s Boxing Coach Subedar Chenanda Achaiah Kuttappa will be the Head Boxing Coach for 32nd Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo, Japan, between July 23 to August 8.

A resident of Gokulam in Mysuru city, he was nominated for the Dronacharya Award-2018 in boxing. He took over as the Chief Coach for men’s boxing in India in 2018 and has played a significant role in the rise of Indian boxing as a force after the disappointment at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and will travel to Tokyo alongside the nine qualified boxers for the world event.

The team will leave for Tokyo from their training base in Assisi on July 17. An unprecedented nine Indian pugilists have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics this time, including five men and four women. All of them are giving final touches to their games preparations in Assisi. The Games will open on July 23 with boxing competitions starting the next day. The men who have qualified are world number one and Asian Games champion Amit Panghal (52kg), Manish Kaushik (63kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg), Ashish Kumar (75kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg).

The women’s squad comprises six-time world champion MC Mary Kom (51kg), Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) and Pooja Rani (75kg). India’s qualification performance in boxing this time was markedly better than the 2016 Rio Games where only three made the tournament-proper, none of them women.

The country did not win any boxing medals in the previous Games. India’s first boxing medal in the Olympics came in 2008 when Vijender Singh claimed the middleweight bronze, followed by Mary Kom’s medal in 2012.

Making India proud

Kuttappa is the second son of late Achaiah and Shanthi (Thamane – Katimada). He married Ashwini (Nancy), daughter of Palangiyanda Uthappa and Greshi Uthappa, residents of Mysuru. They are blessed with a daughter Yudhi, studying in sixth standard.

Kuttappa did his primary schooling at Mahaveer School, Mysuru till seventh standard and continued at Army School Bangalore to study up to 12th. He then joined the NIS Diploma in Sports Coaching in Boxing 2006-2007 and continued with AIBA Star 2 Coaching Course 2017, Rohtak (India), AIBA Star 3 Coaching Course 2019, South Korea and AIBA Cutman course 2017, Uzbekistan.

Kuttappa completed his BA from Bangalore Open University. He joined the Indian Army in 1996 and is presently working as Subedar and is the Head Boxing Coach, Elite Men National Boxing. Kuttappa has made India proud on numerous occasions. He started by winning bronze in the Sub Jr. YMCA Boxing championship in 1994.

He did not look back from then on. After winning nearly 30 matches in the international arena at the age of 30, he became the coach of the Indian boxing team. He has represented India as a coach at many international events including the Olympics.