Former Fiji champ’s daughter wins Aussie title

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Elisha Kumar in action during her Australia under-14 Novice Girls Boxing title victory. Inset: Elisha, with dad Gyan after her win. Pictures: SUPPLIED

Elisha Kumar, the daughter of former Fiji amateur boxing champion, Gyan Kumar has become the first South Sea Islander and Fijian to win the Australian schools girls 50 kilogram division boxing title.

The Adelaide-based father and daughter boxers capped off years of hard work when Elisha won the division’s novice gold medal win last Friday.

“I am really proud of her,” Gyan, who was born and bred in Labasa, said.

“It was not our desire for my two daughters to take up sport. I never introduced them to sport, it just came naturally. One is a boxer and the other is a state champion high jump and long jumper. It is the natural talents within them and my job is to prepare them as they both have the desire to reach the Olympics.”

Gyan, now a qualified boxing referee, judge and coach in Australia, has called on Fijians to be strong, innovative and resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the country is gripped with another bout of the pandemic attack, Kumar who now lives in Australia, said the lockdown was a time to re-look at the way we improve our living standards and how we play sports.

“There is a lot of work that is needed to improve sports in Fiji,” Kumar said.

“As a former boxer and a person who had Fiji at heart, boxing in Fiji can be improved if we look at ways we can improve the sport. We have to be positive. To develop boxing, you have to develop the coaches. Boxers do not produce coaches, it is the coach who produces boxers, so we need to seriously look at developing our coaches first.

“Fiji is the only place in the world that has koro (villages). Develop the coaches starting from grassroots level. We can have villages to have their clubs just like they do in rugby. Organise district competitions for these clubs, who will then be affiliated to districts, provincial and then national competitions.

“Train the coaches and deploy them to clubs. If a village has less numbers of boxers, combine few villages and have regular competitions.

“Fiji has the right resources. In my opinion, our boxers have the built and the passion to box. We need to train our boxers at a young age and have a cycle of boxers. Boxing does not need equipment. Equipment help to train a boxer. Boxing needs passion, the right attitude and the skills. It will take years to master the skills, but what we need now are coaches to be developed and to start from grassroots level.”

Kumar, a former Fiji journalist who now has three degrees and works as an accountant and church worker, said he succeeded because he was mentored by Fijian champions such as Sakaraia Ve, Joe Keresi, Alipate Korovou, Pauliasi Ratu and Joe Ravudi (Sr) and former FABA senior referee and judge Ignesio Mow.

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