JOIN US With the Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) letters to International Boxing Association (AIBA) doing “more harm than good”, the suspended Indian Amateur Boxing Federation has urged SAI to stop the missives, one of which was followed by the ban getting extended to the country’s pugilists.
The IABF was suspended by the AIBA in December last year due to the International Olympic Committee’s ban on the Indian Olympic Association and “possible manipulation” in the IABF elections.
But the AIBA had exempted the country’s boxers from the suspension initially. However, the situation changed dramatically when SAI wrote a letter to AIBA seeking clarification on the matter.
AIBA extended the ban on the boxers last month. But the snub did not deter SAI. In its efforts to ensure Indian boxers’ participation in a junior women’s event in Hungary, SAI got directly in touch with local organisers bypassing AIBA.
The Hungarian officials wrote to AIBA seeking clarification, which left the world body fuming. It warned India that such moves would only make it worse for the country. A rattled IABF has now pleaded with SAI to desist from getting in touch with AIBA directly.