Boxing Federation of India begins to take shape

Racing against time to escape the International Boxing Association’s (AIBA) wrath, India’s bickering administrators seem to have struck a conciliatory note by agreeing to christen the proposed new national body as the Boxing Federation of India.

“Responding to the need of the hour of having a duly elected federation to facilitate our boxers, a whopping 33 out of 36 Indian states/UTs have applied to Boxing Federation of India for membership and for the journey ahead to get India back in the international arena,” AIBA-appointed ad hoc committee currently administering the sport said.

India has time till May 14 to put together a new federation, failing which the AIBA has threatened to bar the country’s boxers from the Rio Olympic Games in August.

Only one Indian boxer -- Shiva Thapa (56kg) -- has qualified for Rio Olympics so far with two more qualifying events -- one each for men and women -- still to go.

Faced with a tough-posturing AIBA, the Indian administrators held a meeting with Sports Authority of India (SAI) Director Injeti Srinivas in the capital on April 7.