Official Creates Misunderstanding, IOA Apologises to International Boxing Association
IOA secretary general Rajeev Mehta had claimed that the Indian Olympic body was not informed while approving members who would run boxing in the country. AIBA has clarified though that extensive discussions were held and all information was shared promptly.
- Press Trust of India
- Updated: May 23, 2014 09:21 AM IST
Furious with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) secretary general Rajeev Mehta, the International Boxing Association said on Thursday that his claims that the IOA was not kept in the loop while approving the group to run Indian boxing were "ill-informed" and created a "misunderstanding".
"AIBA would like to correct ill-informed comments made by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Secretary General Mr. Rajeev Mehta following the approval of Boxing India as provisional new AIBA member," the AIBA said in a statement.
"AIBA President Dr. Ching-Kuo Wu and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President, Mr. Narayna Ramachandran, met in Lausanne to discuss issues related to boxing in India. AIBA received full support from the IOA with regards to the selection of the new AIBA member for India," AIBA said.
"Further to this agreement, AIBA immediately informed the IOA of the AIBA Executive Committee decision of 14 May to accept Boxing India as the new National Federation. This decision was simultaneously published on the AIBA website," it added.
"The IOA recently confirmed receipt of such a letter and apologised towards AIBA for the misunderstanding created. AIBA wishes to continue working with the IOA and sincerely hopes that this matter has now been cleared and settled."
AIBA approved the application of Boxing India (The Bout outside the Ring) -- a consortium of corporates and administrators -- as provisional new member for India until ratification by the AIBA Congress, following recommendations by the world body's Evaluation Committee.
The decision was a fresh lease of life to Indian Amateur Boxing Federation, which had been terminated for not holding fresh elections after its 2012 polls were deemed manipulated by AIBA.
Soon after AIBA's approval to Boxing India, Mehta had claimed that IOA was kept in dark about this development by AIBA.
AIBA today hit back stating that the statement was incorrect.
It was on March 3 that the AIBA Executive Committee decided to terminate India "due to serious violations of the AIBA Statutes and Bylaws".
Following this, it was decided to establish a new National Federation in India with the right group of people who would support the principles of AIBA in terms of ethics and fairness.
For that, AIBA launched an Evaluation Committee to assess all the applications received by potential groups or individuals interested in establishing a new Federation -- the deadline to submit applications was April 28.
The newly selected Boxing India has been asked to submit its plan to hold a General Assembly as soon as possible to conduct the elections for its executives, which should also be approved by AIBA.