NEW DELHI: The Boxing Federation of India has resolved a long-running dispute with the International Boxing Association over payment of pending dues, AIBA president Umar Kremlev confirmed on Monday.
In an e-mail interview to PTI, Kremlev, who took charge in December last year, also said that the world body would send an observer for BFI’s presidential elections on February 3, a request that came from the BFI itself to ensure “free and fair polls”.
“We have excellent relations with all our National Federations, including India. The issue of all payments for the World Championships was resolved and finally closed,” Kremlev told the newswire.
“We will certainly send a competent observer from AIBA to the presidential elections in the Boxing Federation of India. Our task is to ensure complete transparency and democracy in each National Federation,” he added.
The election observer, according to a BFI source, is expected to arrive either tomorrow or on the day of polls and a negative COVID-19 test report would be enough to ensure the person’s presence during the proceedings on Wednesday.
Incumbent Ajay Singh is being challenged by BJP leader and former Mumbai Cricket Association head Ashish Shelar for the president’s post.
It was last May that then AIBA president Mohamed Moustahsane had threatened to derecognise BFI if the matter was not resolved. This followed on from AIBA’s decision in April 2020 to hand over hosting rights for the 2021 Men’s World Boxing Championships to the Serbian capital of Belgrade “after New Delhi didn’t fulfill its obligations to pay host fee as mentioned in the Host City Agreement terms”.
At the time Moustahsane had alleged that BFI hadn’t yet paid “almost two thirds” of the host city fee for the 2018 women’s world championships, which was held in New Delhi.
“The total contract amount agreed between the AIBA and BFI for the men’s Worlds was $4,000,000 (Rs 300 million) and the first instalment – or half of the bidding fee amount of $2,000,000 – was agreed to be paid by the BFI by December 1, 2019,” Moustahsane had told The Times of India at the time.
He further claimed: “When the BFI didn’t pay $2,000,000 on the promised date despite several mails and reminders from the AIBA, we (AIBA) chose to exercise our right to impose a $500,000 penalty, which was part of the original contract, on the BFI for dishonouring the contract. So, now they will have to pay the penalty. In the meantime, the AIBA has also started the process of identifying a new host city for the men’s Worlds before accepting the hosting bid from the Serbian boxing federation in April.”
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