Punjab and Haryana HC notice to sports ministry, BFI on boxers’ plea

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday sought response from the union sports ministry on a petition by three elite boxers opposing the evaluation process put in place by the boxing federation (BFI) for selecting the squad for the Hangzhou Asian Games. The Centre and BFI have been directed to respond by July 24.

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). India have already named seven male and six female boxers for the Games.

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.

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 superheavy division, Narender (578) made the cut ahead of Sagar Ahlawat (558).

The petition which seeks trials to decide the squad, says: “...Respondent No. 4 (BFI) illegally changed the selection criteria inter alia for national coaching camps, World Championships and Asian Games 2023 in a completely arbitrary manner and against National Sports Development Code of India (NSCI), 2011 and against selection policy.”

Some women boxers had unsuccessfully challenged the evaluation process in court before the women’s world boxing meet in New Delhi in March.

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.