Panghal, 2 other boxers, petition court over Asian Games non-selection

Three elite boxers have filed a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana high court against the Boxing Federation of India's (BFI) evaluation process for selecting the Hangzhou Asian Games squad. Besides BFI, they have listed the union sports ministry, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and Sports Authority of India as respondents.

The petitioners include 2019 World Championships silver medallist Amit Panghal (51kg), 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Sagar Ahlawat (+92kg) and 2021 national champion Rohit Mor (57kg). The first hearing is set for Tuesday.

The seven-member men’s Asian Games squad was announced on July 1. The three petitioners had finished second in their respective weight classes in the evaluation process. Deepak Bhoria (663 points) pipped Panghal (619) while Mor (574) was a distant second to Sachin (651). In the superheavy division, Narender (578) made the cut ahead of Sagar Ahlawat (558).

As per BFI's selection policy put in place since the start of the year, trials have been largely done away with. The boxers (men and women) are now assessed on various parameters in the national camp in Patiala over 2-3 weeks and selected.

Ahead of the Delhi Women’s World Boxing Championships in March, a few boxers who were not selected had petitioned the Delhi high court against the process, put in place by India’s Irish High Performance Director Bernard Dunne. The court cleared the selections and did not find any issue with the process after examining documents related to it.

The male boxers had earlier written to BFI expressing dissatisfaction with the procedure.

“I am not satisfied with the selection assignment of the Asian Games held from 19/6/2023 to 1/7/2023. I don't think this selection is fair. I want you to take instant action on this. I will be really thankful if you take action and help me grab my fair chance,” Sagar Ahlawat wrote on July 2.

Panghal, who was also not selected for the World Championships in Tashkent this year, wrote, “I am aggrieved with evaluation scores and I am not satisfied with this process for selection for Asian Games. You are requested to re-look into the matter.” HT has copies of the emails.

BFI defended its selection process. “The evaluation system is transparent and scientific. A number of top nations use the same method. There is no going back on it. Of course, some boxers will be aggrieved, but over time they’ll come on board,” BFI secretary general Hemanta Kalita said.

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