Boxers won’t miss out on tournaments now: BFI prez’s assurance
Greater Noida: Boxing Federation of India (BFI) president Ajay Singh on Thursday asserted that boxers will not miss any more tournaments, with national camps set to resume soon and a new coaching set-up also to be announced.
Indian boxing was in a state of inexplicable slumber post the Paris Olympics with boxers missing several international competitions, including the Asian Championships, Strandja Memorial and the recent Women’s World Championships.
While the men’s team is in Brazil for the first stage of the World Boxing Cup starting on Sunday, the women boxers missed out due to repeated delays in the National Championships, which concluded only on Thursday.
“Indian boxers will not miss anything at all. The national camps will start very soon. Women are not going to miss any more championships. We are also going to conduct the junior and sub-junior championships,” Singh told reporters on sidelines of the final day of the women’s National Championship’s here.
Previously, the only way to enter the national camps was by finishing on the podium at the National Championships. However, BFI will now have a new system which will now include boxers from 2 other competitions, including the REC Open Talent Hunt Program, as well.
“Four boxers from National Championships, the 2 REC finalists and in addition to that we are having the Chief of Army Staff Championship for men and yet unnamed championship for women and from those championships also we will pick two boxers.
“We will create a pool from these eight boxers and from that pool we will pick four boxers to represent us in the national camps,” Singh said.
Despite delays in the BFI’s elections, which are currently stalled due to ongoing court cases, Singh confirmed that the federation will proceed with appointing the new coaching staff to ensure that boxers are not impacted. “We will continue with our work, continue hosting championships, continue with the process of camps and recruiting people,”
he said.
