Bad days are behind us, says AIBA observer Tanner

In a room abuzz with the election hustle, International Boxing Association (AIBA) vicepresident Edgar Tanner sat quietly and patiently.theaustralian’ssoleresponsibilitywas toobservetheboxingfederationofindia’selection process and provide a report of it to the sport’sworldbody.andaftertheelectionsconcluded, he asserted he was happy with what he saw. “I will be reporting to the International Boxing Association that the Indian Federation is back, up and running,” he said.

Back in 2012, the then Indian Amateur Boxing Federation was de-recognised by the Aibaduetomanipulatedelections.sincethen, there has not been a suitable body handling the sport, resulting in Indian pugilists not being allowed to compete under the country’s flag.“therestoftheinternationalboxingcommunity was very sad that the Indian teams weren’t able to march under the Indian flag, or thattherewouldbenonationalanthemplayed if the boxers won a gold medal,” Tanner said.

There was an attempt to shape a national body in the form of Boxing India in 2014, but that group too was suspended following a revoltbetweenthestateunits.subsequently,under the guidance of AIBA, an ad-hoc committee was formed to temporarily govern the sport’s affairs in the country.

On Saturday, with Tanner watching, the Boxing Federation of India conducted its elections at the Mumbai Cricket Association’s Sachin Tendulkar Gymkhana.

While the elections were also being observedbyagovernmentrepresentative–sports Authorityofindia(mumbai)directorsushmita Jyotsi – there was no delegate sent from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). “AIBA had written two letters to the IOA. The IOC (International Olympic Committee), too, had communicatedwiththemaboutattendingthe elections,”explainedkishennarsi,chairmanof the ad-hoc committee.

Nonetheless, Tanner was confident that Indian boxing can finally move on from the years of chaos. “I think those bad days are behind us. The Indian team was once considered amongthetop10teamsintheworld.ithasunfortunately slipped, but I think with this new teamthathasjustbeenelected,wewillbeable toseetheindianteamcompetingwiththebest again,” he said.

A total of 64 members were present out of the 66 total eligible to vote. Eventually, Spicejet chairman and managing director Ajay Singh beat Rohit Jain by 49 votes to 15. In a threeman fight for the general secretary spot, Jay Kowli prevailed with 48 votes over Lenny D’gama’s 12 and Rakesh Thakran’s four votes. For the zonal Vice-presidents’ posts, Amarjit Singh was elected in the west zone over D’gama with a 36-28 result, while Rajesh Bhandari won the north zone election over CK Jerath by 39 votes to 25. Rajesh Desai was appointed west zone’s zonal secretary with 44 votes, against Priti Baria’s 20.

In turn, after the election results were declared, Singh asserted his immediate goals werebasedonincreasingthefocusontheboxers, coaches and technical officials.