Bernard Dunne to become India’s High-Performance Director

Bernard Dunne is on the verge of taking over as High Performance Director of India’s boxing according to reports in Asia.

The Clondalkin native resigned from his position as High Performance Director at the IABA in May of this year.

The former super bantamweight champion of the world took up the role in 2017 and oversaw a transitional period in Irish amateur boxing.

Dunne was at the helm for a rebuild after a disappointing Rio Olympics and the departure to the pro ranks of some of Ireland’s greatest ever amateurs.

That attempted rebuild took place among some very unhelpful infighting within the IABA and Dunne will argue it was successful considering Ireland won only our third boxing gold at the Tokyo Olympics as well as another bronze.

The former St Matthews puncher ignored calls to reconsider his decision and now looks set to take up a similar role abroad.

It’s no secret within Irish boxing that the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) had made contact with the Dubliner.

Reports from India now suggest that Dunne is the country’s number 1 choice and he could begin work with the team very soon. The Asian country are also looking at appointing a foreign Head Coach, it’s not sure if Dunne will have a say in who is chosen.

India has a solid history in boxing and although they have only won three Olympic boxing bronze they always compete well at the World Championships, where they’ve won 48 medals as well as the Asian Championships, where they boast a total of 118 medal wins.

They finished second behind Northern Ireland in the overall standings of the recent Commonwealth Games with seven medals.

Dunne isn’t the first former High Performance Director to be tempted abroad. Billy Walsh, who oversaw a record medal haul with Team Ireland, is now over operations at Team USA.