IABF wants SAI to stop sending letters to AIBA

With the International Boxing Association taking strong exception to Sports Authority of India’s letters, the suspended Indian Boxing Federation has sought the Sports Secretary’s intervention to stop SAI from communicating with AIBA. A furious AIBA has apparently warned the IABF that letters from SAI seeking some clarification or the other would only make things worse for the Indian body, which was last year provisionally suspended due to the IOC’s ban on the IOA and “possible manipulation” in its September elections. [caption id=“attachment_388100” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AP[/caption] “We have written to Sports Secretary P K Deb now because SAI’s letters have caused a lot of problem for us. For AIBA, a letter from SAI amounts to government intervention because it functions under the Sports Ministry,” an IABF source told PTI. The AIBA had exempted the country’s boxers from the suspension initially. However, the situation changed dramatically when SAI wrote a letter to AIBA seeking clarification on the matter. AIBA toughened its stand and extended the ban to the boxers as well, dealing another blow to the sport, which had flourished quite a lot in the country after Vijender Singh’s Beijing Olympics bronze medal. “As it is, the AIBA has been tough on us, and these letters are only causing more trouble. So, we have now requested the Sports Secretary to intervene and tell SAI not to communicate with AIBA. AIBA is very angry,” the source said. Recently, SAI, in its efforts to ensure Indian boxers’ participation in a junior women’s event in Hungary, got directly in touch with local organisers bypassing AIBA. The Hungarian officials wrote to AIBA seeking clarification, which left the world body fuming. It then issued a warning to India that such moves would only make it worse for the country. PTI