New Delhi : Livid at being ignored for elections to put together a new federation tomorrow, two of Indian boxing’s biggest stakeholders — Railways and Services Sports Control Board — have lodged a protest with the Sports Ministry.
Neither Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) nor the Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) will be a part of the election process to constitute the Boxing Federation of India even though they have a vote each.
“We haven’t even been intimated about tomorrow’s election, we are getting to know through media reports. That’s no way to treat stakeholders as big as us. We provide jobs, training facilities to boxers and our boxers have gone on to represent India in every big tournament. How can we be kept out of this process like this?” asked a top RSPB official. “We have written to the Sports Ministry to register our protest,” the official added.
The view was echoed by SSCB, which was among the founding members of the erstwhile Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF), the governing body till 2012.
“Boxing is an integral part of SSCB. We even have a boys’ division to ensure that the sport is nurtured at the grassroot level. We ought to at least be told that a process is on. Is that too much?” said an SSCB official.
A representative of the ad-hoc committee, which is administering the sport right now, however, said the Boards have been left out as they did not take affiliation from BFI.
“They can take affiliation after the body is constituted and given recognition by the Sports Ministry. That would reinstate their voting rights,” he said. However, both RSPB and SSCB said they deserved a voice even today.
