shot-button
Olympic 2024 Olympic 2024
Home > Sports News > Other Sports News > Article > Three boxers move Delhi HC after failing to make cut for World Championships team

Three boxers move Delhi HC after failing to make cut for World Championships team

Updated on: 07 March,2023 09:21 AM IST  |  New Delhi
PTI |

"We wrote to the BFI and haven't got a reply from them as yet," she added. The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) maintains that winning a gold medal at the Nationals was not a criteria to pick the team

Three boxers move Delhi HC after failing to make cut for World Championships team

Representational image. Pic/iStock

Left out of the Indian team for the upcoming Boxing World Championships, reigning national champions Manju Rani, Shiksha Narwal and Poonam Poonia on Monday dragged the national federation to the Delhi High Court, seeking its intervention for their inclusion. The Delhi High Court has accepted their writ petition and will hear the matter on Tuesday. In their writ petition, the three boxers argued that all the gold medallists at the national championships held in December 2022 at Bhopal, were selected except them. "...the petitioners have requested the relevant authorities for considering their names for selection in women's world championship, but they did not get any fruitful results," they wrote. "When the nine other boxers (who won the nationals) got direct qualification then why haven't we three from Railways got it," Manju, who won a silver at the 2019 World Championships, said during an interaction with PTI.


"We wrote to the BFI and haven't got a reply from them as yet," she added. The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) maintains that winning a gold medal at the Nationals was not a criteria to pick the team. According to BFI, the new selection policy for the men's and women's World Championships and the Asian Games was followed to pick the national team and Manju (48kg), Shiksha (54kg) and Poonam (60kg) could not make it to the 12-member side. According to the new policy, drafted in consultation with High Performance Director (HPD) Bernard Dunne, the boxers underwent an evaluation process for three weeks where they were judged on various parameters. The boxers were "tested for performance in training to include endurance and S&C," in the first week and in the second and third weeks, "athletes were tested for technical and tactical skills during sparring sessions." The HPD, Bhaskar Bhatt and CA Kuttapa -- the women's and men's teams' head coaches -- marked the boxers and a ranking list was made. Nine of the 12 national champions were ranked one and qualified for the marquee event.


Also read: Dmitry Dmitrukas appointed foreign coach of Indian boxing team


Commonwealth Games champion Nitu Ghangas (634), Preeti (623) and CWG bronze medallist Jaismine Lamboria (612), however, finished ahead of Manju (564), Shiksha (573) and Poonam (567) in the evaluation test and were ranked one. "We made sure all boxers know about the new selection policy, it's there on the website as well. They knew about the evaluation as well in the camp. "We even told them in hindi the criteria and the process," BFI secretary Hemanta Kalita told PTI. "They are saying we won in nationals but the criteria has changed, a boxer has to be evaluated irrespective now. "And if they had a problem with the policy they should have said it one day 1 that 'we won't follow this'," he added. Asked if they knew about the evaluation process, Manju said, "We were told about the assessment during the camp but while sparring etc we were not told we are being judged at that moment." "Some of the girls who have been selected didn't even compete in the nationals, so what was the point of conducting the nationals," she added, referring to Nitu. Earlier, BFI held trials ahead of all major tournaments to pick national teams.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!

Register for FREE
to continue reading !

This is not a paywall.
However, your registration helps us understand your preferences better and enables us to provide insightful and credible journalism for all our readers.

Mid-Day Web Stories

Mid-Day Web Stories

This website uses cookie or similar technologies, to enhance your browsing experience and provide personalised recommendations. By continuing to use our website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. OK