‘Indian boxing going through toughest time’

In an interview to a news agency before leaving for Astana, Kazakhstan, where the World Championships will be held from May 19 to 27, the five-time gold-medallist spoke of her anxieties, 

preparation and goals heading into the tournament, where she would look to book a ticket for her last Olympic appearance.

“Let’s see how this World Championship goes, I am one of the ambassadors of the tournament so I hope this will be an advantage for me. I don’t mind the disadvantage either because I will do my best from my side whether I qualify or not,” said the Manipuri, who is also an Olympic bronze-medallist.

The disadvantage she refers to is the absence of any Indian representation among referees and judges owing to the absence of a national federation here.

“Officially there is no representation, so that plays on the mind. Even if we perform, we might end up on the losing side because there is no official to take up our case.

Sometimes we feel very scared that who will support us. The countries which have proper federations protest strongly when they feel things have not been fair but we can’t, there is no support,” she lamented.

“This is the toughest time Indian boxing is going through. Only one boy (Shiva Thapa) has qualified so far and that speaks for itself. There is one more qualifier for men left but how many will qualify from there cannot be assured of. Last time we were eight of us at the Olympics,” she pointed out.