Boxers at National Championships evicted from accommodation, forced to spend evening outdoors in chilling cold: Report

Boxers, coaches and support staff from multiple state teams were evicted from their accommodation and forced to spend hours outdoors in chilling cold in Greater Noida at the National Boxing Championships on Friday, according to a report in the The Indian Express.

The report stated that bags of boxers and their support staffs were put outside their rooms and they were asked to vacate their accommodations since the bookings were only done till Friday.

Boxers left without accommodation after hectic semifinals

The Senior National Boxing Championships are currently taking place in the Gautam Buddha University in Greater Noida. The semifinals across weight categories took place on Friday but after the teams returned from the venue they found that their bags were put outside and they were asked to vacate their rooms.

Telangana, Kerala, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh were some of the teams that faced this issue, according to the report.

“This happened around 7:30 pm when we returned from the boxing venue. Our players, along with coaches, were asked to vacate the premises saying it was booked only till today,” a coach informed The Indian Express on condition of anonymity. “We are still standing outside the hostel and haven’t got any alternative for our stay.”

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“We have a boxer playing in the final tomorrow. This is a situation where we don’t know what to do. We got a little late as we were having dinner. This is not an isolated incident, we faced something similar last night around 8 pm,” another coach told the publication.

BFI issues statement

According to the report, the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) did not specify what caused the problem but stated that steps were taken to provide accommodation to affected athletes.

“Immediate steps have been taken to ensure that the affected athletes have been accommodated at the nearest facility at GB University, where suitable sleeping arrangements have been made for the night. The Federation is closely monitoring the situation,” the statement read.

The National Championships had also attracted attention on the opening day when it was reported that the start had to be delayed by five hours due to logistical issues at the venue.