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THE messy Boxing Federation of India (BFI) election is a fair reflection of the tussle for power going on in the country’s sports administration. Such turf wars have escalated after the pandemic—starting with the Table Tennis Federation, followed by the All India Football Federation and the Indian Olympic Association. After the landmark 2022 judgement in the Rahul Mehra case, which mandated changes in India’s sports regulation and administration, things were expected to get better. Instead, they have spiralled out of control.
The BFI election was troubled even before the dates were announced. Its president Ajay Singh and secretary general Hemanta Kalita were priming for the fight in one corner, as treasurer Digvijay Singh was in the other. There was a mini revolt against the president during the National Games in Uttarakhand. The BFI president entrusted one member to look into the charges of financial irregularity against the secretary and the treasurer. Allegations were flung in all directions. Things got more complicated when Anurag Thakur entered the race. Ajay Singh issued a letter against Thakur’s late entry. The matter landed in the high courts of Delhi and Himachal Pradesh, where the letter was stayed. The election was eventually paused after the BFI president said he would approach the superior court.
Meanwhile, Indian boxing has slipped into an abyss. The Paris Olympics showed where India were in the sport’s pecking order. The top women boxers perished without a fight. Barring Nishant Dev, the men’s campaign crumbled too. This was despite spending a substantial sum on the players’ foreign tours and training. According to a Sports Authority document, ₹60.93 crore was spent on the whole effort, which included spending almost a month in Saarbrucken to acclimatise before heading to Paris. For just five boxers, there were eight sparring partners, and 16 coaches and support staff including a chef. But the competitions that churned out promising young boxers became fewer. As a result, at present there is no bench of good junior players and no national camp. Yet, the top administrators are fighting among themselves to cling to their chairs. What is even more worrying is that most BFI state units have members who have stayed on for eternity. If anyone wants to usher in change, they should start with the state units. A long and painful road lies ahead.
