Lovlina Borgohain to miss nationals as infighting plagues federation, hurts boxers | Sport-others News

Tokyo Olympic medall Lovlina Borgohain will miss the upcoming Boxing Nationals due to infighting between Boxing Federation of India (BFI) president Ajay Singh and his now suspended secretary Hemanta Kalita. Ahead of the women’s nationals, taking place from March 21-27 in Greater Noida, Singh alleged that Kalita, who also serves as the secretary of the Assam Amateur Boxing Association, has not allowed any boxers from his state to participate in the tournament. This fact was confirmed Lovlina late on Wednesday.
“I won’t be participating in the upcoming Nationals as Assam is not sending any team. If Assam is not sending any team, I can’t go on my own as an individual boxer,” Lovlina told The Indian Express from Guwahati.
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Earlier in the day, while addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Singh had claimed Lovlina will give the tournament a miss due to Kalita’s directive.
“Assam Boxing state unit and some other state units are not allowing boxers to participate in the nationals. Lovlina recorded a video to support the event but she is not coming now due to Assam not sending a team,” Ajay Singh told reporters.
The federation has been embroiled in controversy since the start of the month when the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) suspended the federation due to their failure to conduct elections on time. On Tuesday, the BFI also suspended secretary general Kalita and treasurer Digvijay Singh from their official positions due to financial irregularities and mismanagement of funds.
Plea for player welfare
Lovlina, one of the country’s leading boxers, has previously represented Assam at the National level and is yet to participate in any competition since the start of the year.Story continues below this ad
The experienced Indian boxer hopes that politics can be kept out of the sport, so that the interests of the pugils are safeguarded. “Whatever is the resolution of this situation, it should be in favour of the players,” Lovlina said. “Right now the situation is messy given the confusion over the elections. If something happens at the elections and then another nationals is conducted, I don’t think that will be good for any boxer,” she added.
Singh also announced that the federation will take care of the expenses of boxers who want to participate despite their state units not sending a team. However, Lovlina quashed any such possibility. “Our president has made it clear that no boxers will participate from Assam, so, despite any promises, it is not possible for me to come,” she said.
Apart from Assam, state associations like Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and West Bengal are not sending their boxers. With World Champion Nikhat Zareen also not participating, Lovlina missing will be a big blow for the tournament.
The BFI claimed that 22 states are coming to nationals with many of them on their way to Greater Noida.”We have confirmation from 22 states. Boxers from Kerala and Andhra Pradesh are on their way to Noida while the North Eastern states will fly here soon,” said Ajay Singh.Story continues below this ad
The recent controversies have plagued the functioning of the federation. After the Delhi High Court reversed the IOA’s decision earlier this month, Kalita issued a notice last week saying that 18 state associations have asked for the postponement of the tournament. “I would like to reiterate that the said Championship is being rescheduled due to the request of various members and also considering the paucity of time. A few states have only sent entry number and some have sent names,” Kalita wrote in the letter.
Later, BFI president Singh issued another email announcing that the championship was set to take place at the scheduled time and suspended the two office-bearers.
“SAI received a complaint in January regarding funds embezzlement and asked BFI to conduct an independent inquiry on Mr Kalita and Mr Singh,” Ajay Singh said.
“We conducted an independent inquiry with Retired Judge Sudhir Jain hearing all three parties (complainant, SAI and accused). While the other two parties appeared and recorded their statements, the accused failed to turn up despite multiple reminders. His investigation found our office bearers guilty and we suspended them as per the rules and submitted the report to SAI,” he concluded.