IOA Ad-Hoc Body Fixes November for National Boxing Championships

The IOA-appointed ad-hoc committee, currently overseeing some affairs of Indian boxing, on Thursday, fixed the Senior National Championships for both men and women in November even as state units voiced their concerns about the upcoming elections to constitute a new federation.

The six-member committee, headed by veteran administrator Tarlochan Singh, on Thursday, met representatives from 19 state units and discussed the conduct of National Championships, which have not been held for two years.

"The men's Championships will be held in the first week of November in Uttarakhand and the women's Championships will be in Delhi in the last week of the same month," committee's convener Rakesh Gupta told PTI.

"Once a new federation takes shape after elections, the dates will also be worked out," he added.

The other issue discussed in the meeting was increasing the weight categories for women boxers in the National Games.

"Even though Olympics and Asian Games allows for only three weight categories for women but we have requested that all 10 women's categories be included in the roster for National Games," said Gupta.

Expectedly, some concerns were also voiced about the September 11 elections to form a new federation even though Gupta denied this.

The polls are being conducted by the International Boxing Association-recognised Boxing India but have been mired in controversies as some state units have accused BI of manipulation.

"The units attending the meeting did bring this up and demanded that IOA oversee the whole process but Mr Gupta told us that it was not in the IOA's hands as of now. Obviously, there are a lot of concerns about how everything is being managed," an official from one of the attending state units told PTI.

Gupta, however, denied that the issue of elections was even brought up.

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"Election is not our mandate then why should we discuss about it," he said.