New Delhi: The Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) ad hoc committee for boxing took charge on Tuesday and put in place measures to send Indian teams for international competitions besides setting a two-month deadline to hold the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) elections.
IOA president PT Usha on Monday named a five-member panel headed by Madhu Kant Pathak to run the affairs of boxing and conduct elections citing “administrative instability” after elections were not called with the tenure of the BFI body having ended on February 2. The BFI president Ajay Singh has refuted IOA’s criticism with the boxing body preparing to challenge the decision in court. “We are moving court. Putting an ad hoc body is a clear violation of the IOA constitution,” a BFI office-bearer said.
IOA treasurer and executive committee member Sahdev Yadav wrote to Usha on Monday objecting to her order saying the EC was not consulted and there was “no power vested solely with the president to take such unilateral decisions”.
The five-member panel has said the boxers will not suffer due to the administrative issues. BFI vice-president Rajesh Bhandari, boxing officials DP Bhatt and Virendra Singh Thakur and boxer Shiva Thapa are the other panel members. The committee discussed the possibility of staging the postponed women’s nationals, saying a decision on organising it will be taken after talking to state units.
However, the first major competition for the Indian team will be the World Boxing Cup to be held in Brazil from March 31. Pathak said the panel will discuss preparations for the event with the national coaches and whether a selection trial should be held to pick the team.
“We discussed various issues today. Every decision of the panel will be athlete-centric. We will meet BFI officials and national coaches to know about upcoming international events and whether to conduct selection trials for them. We’ve several top boxers and we will draw a strong selection panel till the time elections are held,” Pathak, who is also general secretary of the Jharkhand Olympic Association (JOA), told HT.
The Indian elite boxers have not participated in any competition since the Paris Olympics. With India now part of World Boxing (it is backed by the International Olympic Committee), it cannot take part in International Boxing Association (IBA) events.
“There has been a dearth of tournaments since we moved to World Boxing. We are not able to take part in IBA events like Strandja Memorial, etc. The women’s national championships, which has been postponed twice, is important as the boxers have been preparing for it,” said a coach on condition of anonymity.
There is also a multi-nation training camp scheduled in Ireland from March 20 which India’s developmental squad is likely to attend.
The panel decided that all state units will be asked to furnish affiliation details to set the election process rolling. “We are here to conduct transparent and fair elections. It was decided that elections will be held within two months, by April end. The panel will meet the state representatives at the earliest. There are some disputes in state associations which have to be seen. We will look for a returning officer – a retired high court judge – for the process to start,” said Pathak.
