Targeting Los Angeles 2028: Coach Santiago Nieva Sets Early Olympic Qualification Goals For India's Women Boxers

Santiago Nieva has already shifted India’s women’s boxing team towards early Olympic qualification for Los Angeles 2028 after a strong 2026 Asian Games campaign that brought three medals, including two gold. The head coach wants as many quotas as possible secured at the first available route so the squad gets more time for Olympic-specific preparation.

Kazakhstan opens the road. The 2027 World Championships there will be the first Olympic qualifying event, and Nieva wants India to collect as many quotas as it can at that stage. “The first qualifier will be in Kazakhstan, which is the World Championships, where ideally we get as many quotas there as possible,” Nieva told SAI Media.

That push follows a productive year in which the team also won six medals, including five gold, at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Nieva’s message is clear: build on recent success, qualify early and use the extra runway to shape a stronger Olympic team.

Olympic Qualification Pathway

The route is already mapped out. “Later on, there will be the Asian Olympic Qualifier and 2028 will have another two Olympic Qualifiers,” Nieva said.

He wants business done early. “Ideally if we get to qualify next year early on, we get a good preparation time,” Nieva said. Early qualification would let the coaching group shift from chasing quotas to event-specific planning for Los Angeles.

Nieva also made clear that the road will not be easy. “It will be a tough pathway and hopefully we can qualify as many boxers as possible so we can form a strong team for the Olympics,” Nieva said.

Year Of Success

Results have backed that ambition. India’s women won six medals, including five gold, at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow before adding three medals at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Nieva has seen Indian boxing before. He was High Performance Director of Indian Boxing from 2017 to 2021. His second stint began in 2025 when he took over as National Women’s Team Head Coach.

Nieva tied the medal haul to months of work. He said the team’s results this year grew out of a 12-month build-up that mixed tough overseas events, domestic camps and regular sparring.

Patiala Support System

Patiala served as the team’s main camp. The Indian women’s boxers prepared at the Sports Authority of India National Centre of Excellence there before this year’s key international events.

The staffing is deep. “We have a staff of 40 people working with the boxers, around 20 coaches and another additional 20 support staff,” Nieva said. He added, “We have improvements in all areas, sports science, the boxing hall, the boxing equipment and so on.”

Nieva said that set-up stands up well against leading programmes worldwide. “I would say there are not many countries who have better support,” he said.

India also brought the Dominican Republic and Iran teams to Patiala for training before the squad moved to Japan for the final phase. The boxers then got more quality sparring in Japan. “We had a good final preparation in Japan where we also got good sparring. We came very well prepared for the Asian Games. Having said that, we cannot rest on this. We have to continue looking forward and in the end we all want great success at the next Olympics,” Nieva added to SAI Media.