The turf war in India's boxing administration intensified on Tuesday with members of various state units calling for immediate elections while the newly-formed Interim Committee announced its own set of key decisions, including the conduct of national championships and appointment of coaches.
The tenure of the BFI office-bearers ended on February 2. However, the elections have been delayed by legal disputes.
In its latest order, the Himachal Pradesh High Court directed the Sports Ministry observer and the Returning Officer to issue a fresh election schedule before April 28, when the case is set to be heard again.
"Ajay Singh (the former BFI President and current head of the interim commitee) has tried all tactics to delay the election and undermine the constitution of the Boxing Federation of India," Assam Boxing President and former secretary general of the BFI Hemanta Kalita told reporters on Tuesday.
"We are grateful and happy that the law of the land has prevailed and the honourable High Court has passed the order to conduct the election in a free and fair manner," he added.
The elections, which were scheduled for March 28, had been "paused" by Returning Officer RK Gauba following directives from the Delhi and Himachal Pradesh High Courts to reinstate names omitted from the Electoral College, including that of former union sports minister Anurag Thakur.
"Ajay Singh is working in a dictatorial manner. We did not have any national championship last year, our performance at the Paris Olympics was zero," Madhya Pradesh Boxing President and former BFI Treasurer Digvijay Singh said.
"We are worried and want the elections to happen as soon as possible, so that our athletes don't lose out and their future is secure," he added.
Himachal Pradesh Boxing Association President and former BFI Vice President Rajesh Bhandari alleged that Singh refused to take the inputs of the executive committee while deciding on the coaching staff, which led to the poor performance in the Paris Games.
"It's because of Ajay Singh's wrong policies, Indian boxing is going down," Bhandari said.
Interim Committee fast-tracks key decisions
The Interim Committee, formed by World Boxing to oversee the affairs of the BFI and ensure administrative continuity and management of domestic and international competitions, in its first meeting on Monday took decisions to rejuvenate the domestic circuit as well as restart the elite boxing system.
The six-member committee includes BFI Vice President Narender Kumar Nirwan, Executive Director Arun Malik, Olympian L Sarita Devi and Singapore Boxing Association's president Fairuz Mohamed.
The final member of the committee is yet to be nominated by the Indian Olympic Association President.
The committee also decided that the selections of coaches and support staff for the elite men's and women's national coaching camps will be appointed soon.
Other key decisions that were taken at the meeting including, effective participation of India's budding boxers in the U-15 and U-17 Asian Championships in Amman, Jordan commencing 17th April 2025, also ensuring smooth conduct of the Youth U-19 National Championships with maximum participation and disbursing the REC Scholarship funds to the athletes, which has been pending for last couple of months.
The committee also decided releasing the REC grant for grassroots equipment support to selected and approved academies to strengthen and promote boxing to newer locations in the country.
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