Brotherly love gives way to fierce rivalry the moment Indian boxing's high performance director Santiago Nieva's wards lock horns with their opponents from Argentina, coached by his elder sibling, Fabricio.
Their paths always crossed while boxing as they pursued the common goal of becoming Olympians. One made it but the other failed.
"When I fight I don't think about our brotherhood. Inside the ring, I'm worried about my boxers. He is my brother outside the ring. There's no brotherhood here," Argentina head coach Fabricio told PTI, referring to his younger brother Santiago.
Fabricio was furious when Santiago went two-up against him as Pawan Narwal recorded a 4-1 split decision over Argentine Youth Olympic gold medallist Brian Arregui Agustin in the 69kg category men's section at the second edition of the Indian Open here.
"I must see the fight again. We thought we won but this is boxing. I don't want to talk about it now," a livid Fabricio said of the decision.
"It's normal, it happens in the heat of the moment. But at the end of the day we are brothers. There's no better feeling at the end of the day," the 44-year-old Santiago, who is younger by one year, said.
Thanks to the continental meet, the Nieva brothers could reunite for the first time after Christmas. Santiago went to the Argentina team hotel and spent time with his brother.
The brothers tried their hands at various sports ranging from football, table tennis, handball before they took up boxing and joined a club at the age of 14 or 15.
The duo went on to represent their country and also turned up for Sweden as their mother Alicia settled in the European nation.
"That time, if the federation agreed you could represent any nation. There was not much restrictions then," Santiago recalled.
It was during that time Santiago suffered a loss against his elder brother in the 54kg category at the Sweden Youth Championship in 1992.
"It was a good fight and entertainment for the spectators but they didn't notice I landed some soft punches. We didn't hit each other with full power," Fabricio gave an insight to the fight that happened 27 years ago.
Fabricio turned out to be a more successful boxer than Santiago, having represented Argentina in 1996 Atlanta Olympics, where he made a second round exit in 60kg category. Later on, Fabricio also won a silver at the 1997 Pan America, a World Cup bronze in 1998.
Santiago could never make it to the Olympics team.
"I failed to make Olympics and then I became a coach in Sweden and he too became a coach in Argentina," Santiago said.
When they found themselves at the opposite ends of the ring today, both looked all pumped up, guiding their respective boxers.
"We have a 800-strong professional boxers in Argentina. But in amateurs we have very young and promising boxers. The average age is like 18-19 years. Boxing is an important sport in Argentina," Fabricio, who has come with a four-member Argentina contingent, said.
As it turned out, luck finally smiled on Fabricio when his 75kg boxer Francisco Veron won 5-0, setting up a quarterfinal bout with India's Ashish Kumar.
"Francisco is very promising and recently gave a strong fight to reigning Olympic champion Arlen Lopez of Cuba before losing by split decision," said Fabricio.
Before this, the two brothers were up against each other at a few exhibition matches in Sweden.
"Our childhood dream was always to go to Olympics. It's really exciting to see Santiago coaching India. They are one of the strongest teams in the world now. They have improved a lot from last year. I hope they win a medal at Tokyo (Olympics)," Fabricio said, wishing his younger brother all the best for 2020 Olympics.
"It's boxing which is keeping us together," he concluded.
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