No selection trials, new evaluation process to select Indian boxer
In a major selection policy shift, the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) has decided that there will be no trials to pick the team for the World Championships this year. Instead, the boxers will have to go through an evaluation process at the national camp based on various parameters to make the team.
BFI has drawn a detailed selection policy after exhaustive consultation with High Performance Director Bernard Dunne in a year of the World Championships and Asian Games that will also double up as the first qualifier for the Paris Olympics.
Dunne has been insistent on a selection policy without trials wherever required as he felt it allows the boxers to fully focus on peaking towards a major championship and not worry about taking the trials.
The new selection policy comes with major changes and reflects Dunne's vision of preparing the team for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Irishman also gets a major say in selection matters. To start with, the number of boxers selected for the elite national camp has been reduced for individual-specific preparation.
Earlier, four boxers per weight category (based on performance at National Championships) were picked for the national camp. Dunne has cut it down to three per weight category. The ongoing camp at NIS Patiala has 41 men and 36 women boxers.
It is learned the boxers in the national camp were intimated about the selection process for the world championships which will be based on evaluation by the High Performance staff. The women’s world championships will be held in Delhi from March 15 while the men’s Worlds will take place in Uzbekistan from May 1.
According to the new policy, three boxers per weight division will be part of the selection process. They must meet at least one of these criteria -- medallists of previous World Championships, 2022 Commonwealth Games, 2022 Asian Championships, reigning gold and silver medal winner of Elite National Championships -- to be eligible for consideration for the 'evaluation stage.'
However, HPD Dunne may at his sole discretion pick a 'wild card' to participate in any of the Olympic weight divisions (seven for men and six for women).
The next step will be the 'evaluation' of boxers at the national camp. "Each athlete will be evaluated by the BFI High Performance Staff and overseen by the HPD. This evaluation will be based on the High-Performance Evaluation Guidelines," as per the policy.
The boxers will be evaluated based on six parameters, including their performance in training, willingness to learn, continuous improvement and assessment of technique and skill. They will be given scores (0-10), ranging from very poor to excellent. Once the evaluation process is complete, the selection committee composed of the BFI secretary general, HPD and chief coach will select the team.
Boxers who won gold/silver at world championships will be an automatic selection for the first Olympic qualifier at the Asian Games. Selection trials will be held for any remaining weight categories.
It remains to be seen how the boxers respond to the new system, considering that in the past there have been controversies over not holding trials. The most recent was Arundhati Chaudhary moving the Delhi High court in 2021 against BFI when Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain was given a direct berth for the World Championships. As a result, last year selection trials were held for the women's team for the world championships, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. Some of the top boxers complained of exhaustion from reducing weight as all three tournaments had different weight classes.
Besides boxing, selection trials have been a controversial topic in many sports. Recently, India's top wrestlers, who protested against the Wrestling Federation of India, raised the issue of too many selection trials that might impact performance on the international stage. In absence of a detailed, well-rounded selection policy, many federations have been facing the heat.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
