The suspension of India’s national boxing federation has resulted in only Shiva Thapa (bantamweight) making the cut for the Rio de Janerio Olympics, compared to eight at the 2012 London Games.
The suspension of India’s national boxing federation has resulted in only Shiva Thapa (bantamweight) making the cut for the Rio de Janerio Olympics, compared to eight at the 2012 London Games. The fact that the boxers are without a federation for close to four years adds to the problem.
Says national coach Gurbaksh Singh Sandhu, “It (only one puligist at Rio so far) is a matter of concern, but I am hoping we will have more representatives.
“The suspension has hit Indian boxing hard. The national championships have not been held properly since 2012. As a result, new faces are not coming into the sport.
“Only in 2015, there was one national competition but was not recognised by a number of state federations. Then we were not able to avail of even a single combined training programme for the boxers, while there would be two of them per year under usual circumstances.”
Thapa too expressed concern a few days ago, saying that not competing under the national flag was a “worry”.
Former Olympian Dhar-mendra Yadav blames it on not having a federation.
“Not having an active national body means Indian pugilists have to compete under Aiba’s flag and not the tri-colour. This is not in the nation’s interest,” Yadav says.
Consequently, the count of young boxers taking up the sport has gone down rapidly. To add to it, a few boxers have been forced to quit.
Says Delhi state level and Railways coach Jaidev Bisht, “Before the suspension, there were so many boys eager to take up boxing that we were not able to rope them all.
“Now, the number of youngsters showing interest has gone down drastically. In fact, they are forced to quit the sport as there is no one to certify and validate their achievements. So, why would anyone take up boxing ”
The situation is so grim that the 2008 Beijing Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh brought the matter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s notice last month.
“The suspension is a huge loss for our boxing fraternity that only two to three people are running the sport in the country. It is always the federation who listens and understands the problems of boxers, but no one cares for them now. I request the Supreme Court to take action in the matter” said a dissapointed Vijender.
However, two-time Olympian boxer Akhil Kumar does not agree with his former team mate.
“I don’t like people holding the suspension of the federation responsible for the below par performance. They have even carved this into the boxers’ minds that there is no one to look after them and they have to fend for themselves,” said Akhil.
