With the 2028 Olympic Games less than two years away, the Boxing Federation of India is a divided house. Both the factions claim they are genuine?
Navneet Singh
With the 2028 Olympic Games less than two years away, the Boxing Federation of India is a divided house. One faction is headed by Ajay Singh, President BFI. The BFI Secretary General, Pramod Kumar, is leading the other group. Both the factions claim they are genuine?
On Thursday, both the factions claimed they have support of the majority of state affiliated units.
The disagreement, it is learnt, has been brewing between the BFI president and secretary general for the past 12 months. But the dispute spilled over post Asian Games and looks beyond amicable settlement as both key office-bearers are alleging each other of violating BFI constitution and mismanagement.
The Indian boxing contingent gave a good account of themselves at the just concluded Asian Games 2026 in Japan. The Indian boxers won three gold and equal number of bronze medals at the continental games. Post Asian Games, instead of announcing a vision draft for the 2028 Olympic Games, the BFI has been in the news for the wrong reason. BFI stands as a divided house!
Since the 2008 Beijing Games, boxing has been one of the disciplines that has won medals at the Olympic Games. Sports administrators running the boxing federation in the country should focus on improving medal tally at successive Olympic Games in future. But the current scenario of infighting between the officials suggests otherwise!
In the past it has been observed that factionalism nearly weakened the grassroots development in the country. The annual domestic calendar is key to selection of the national teams for international meets. The domestic competition too was disrupted in the past due to factionalism. But it is a big respite for the core group of boxers as the Sports Ministry is funding the international exposure tour.
EOM
