The Boxing Federation of India’s May 2024 decision to align with the Western powers-backed World Boxing is yet to pay dividends for BFI’s most critical stakeholders – its boxers.
The Indian boxing landscape is marked by uncertainty following the Paris Olympics, with the BFI missing key international tournaments and delaying national training camps. Notably, the women’s national championship has been postponed multiple times, adding to the concerns.
Since the Olympics, senior Indian boxers have not competed internationally.
The prestigious Strandja Memorial Tournament, set to begin in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Saturday, is the latest high-profile event where Indian boxers will be absent, PTI reports.
India had also skipped the Asian Championship last November, owing to BFI’s alignment with the breakaway World Boxing.
Strandja Memorial is a prestigious event that features high-quality boxers from around the world. Indian boxers have always competed in the event.
“We don’t know when the nationals will take place, when the camps will begin,” a world championship medal-winning boxer told PTI.
“They keep postponing it again and again without giving any details. Without the nationals, we can’t get to the camp. And without the camp, we can’t be selected for international tournaments,” the unnamed boxer (for obvious reasons) added.
The only tournament women boxers have had since the Paris Olympic cycle ended was the National Games, which the likes of Nikhat Zareen skipped.
“Strandja is a very important tournament in the calendar. We were looking forward to competing there since we haven’t participated in any international tournament for over 6-7 months,” another boxer added.
Indian boxing is also without a High Performance Director since the controversial departure of Bernard Dunne last March. Although BFI invited applications for a new HPD in July, no appointment has been made yet.
