Bernard Dunne Leads India to Boxing History

Bernard Dunne helped India to create history last week.

The former world champion led the country to a record-breaking medal haul at the IBA Men’s World Boxing Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

India came away from the tournament with three medals for the first time in history with Deepak Bhoria (51kg), Hussamuddin (57kg), and Nishant Dev (71kg) all reaching the podium.

The success came in the country’s first major male tournament since the Dubliner took the reigns as High-Performance Director and more than justified some big Dunne calls.

India won 3 bronze 🥉 in men's world boxing championship 2023🥊 pic.twitter.com/hVzVG7POc3

— ISHU kumar (@ISHUGUP45648544) May 13, 2023

Dunne scraped the long-standing trail system the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) had previously in place before the Women’s Boxing World Championships, leaving the former Irish High-Performance Director and Spartacus BC founder Dmitry ‘Dima’ Dmitruk to select who they was best equipt to compete at this tournament.

One decision that raised eyebrows was the selection of Deepak Bhoria over 2019 World Championships medal winner Amit Panghal – but it was a decision proved correct by the fact Bhoria won a bronze medal at 51kg.

Clondalkin native, Dunne was confirmed as as High-Performance Director of the Boxing Federation of India in October of last year after stepping down from his role with the IABA in May of the same year.