Hope for Indian boxing? AIBA approves new group to lead sport

New Delhi: The terminated Indian Amateur Boxing Federation on Thursday got a new lease of life with the International Boxing Association approving the application of Boxing India (The Bout outside the Ring) without specifying the individuals representing the group. ‘Boxing India’ was, however, the name given to the faction led by former Secretary General P K Muralidharan Raja which had claimed support of 26 out of the 35 states and units that make up the IABF. [caption id=“attachment_1526873” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational Image. AFP[/caption] Interestingly, ‘Boxing India’ was also the first to submit a vision document to AIBA after the world body terminated IABF for not holding fresh elections after being suspended in 2012 for possible manipulation in the polls. “The International Boxing Association (AIBA) Executive Committee (EC) has approved the application of Boxing India (The Bout outside the Ring) as provisional new AIBA member for India until ratification by the AIBA Congress, following recommendations by the AIBA Evaluation Committee,” the AIBA said in a statement. “This latest AIBA EC Decision was officially announced by AIBA President Dr Ching-Kuo Wu in his letter to the President of the Indian Olympic Association, Narayan Ramachandran,” it said. The AIBA statement did not specify which group of individuals represented ‘Boxing India’. Asked about any such letter, Rakesh Gupta, convener of the IOA-appointed ad-hoc committee to run Indian boxing, simply said he has no information about this. “We have no information on this,” he told PTI. None of the groups, who had applied to AIBA, were clear about which faction the world body has finally approved. AIBA President Ching Kuo Wu said he was impressed with the proposals made to revive Indian boxing by the approved group. “The new vision and the initiatives proposed by this organization to revive the sport of boxing in the country in a professional and ethical manner have convinced AIBA that there would be no better organization than Boxing India to represent our sport in India,” Dr Wu said, asserting that the announcement had underlining support of the Indian Olympic Association during the selection process. It was on March 3 that the AIBA Executive Committee decided to end AIBA’s terminated India “due to serious violations of the AIBA Statutes and Bylaws”. “Following this decision, it was decided to establish a new AIBA National Federation in India with the right group of people who would support the principles of AIBA in terms of ethics and fairness. For that, AIBA launched an Evaluation Committee to assess all the applications received by potential groups and/or individuals interested in establishing a new AIBA National Member Federation in India (deadline to submit application was April 28, 2014),” the AIBA stated. “After having evaluated all received applications, the members of the AIBA Evaluation Committee submitted their recommendations to the AIBA EC.” “Now, the newly selected Boxing India should submit its plan to hold as soon as possible a General Assembly to conduct the elections for its executives which should also be approved by AIBA. The official new AIBA Member Federation in India will be launched immediately after these elections and will start to govern the sport of boxing in India with the full recognition of AIBA,” the statement concluded. PTI