AIBA President welcomes step forward in Indian boxing

International Boxing Association (AIBA) President Dr Ching Kuo-Wu today welcomed the formation of a national federation in India to end four years of administrative turmoil, saying the sport can now be put back on track in the country through "positive initiatives".
In elections held on Sunday, businessman Ajay Singh was elected President of the Boxing Federation of India. Jay Kowli was voted in as the Secretary General of the new body in polls held under the supervision of AIBA observer Edgar Tanner.
"These elections represent an important step forward for boxing in India and I would like to thank Kishen Narsi for leading the intermediate ad-hoc committee which has allowed us to get to where we are today," Dr Wu said in a statement referring to the ad-hoc panel that administered the sport in the absence of a full-fledged body until Sunday.

"It was vital for the good of the sport that a transparent process was undertaken to elect a new president of the Indian Boxing Federation and I am confident that Mr Singh is the right man to lead," he added.
"It is now time to look to the future and work closely with the newly elected National Federation and implement positive initiatives to entice further around the sport of boxing in India."
The world body said it would also try to save itself from

"becoming a scapegoat for unpopular decisions in the future" by conducting an education programme for boxers, coaches, and officials.

"It is essential that the entire boxing community is more in tune with the parameters within which the R&Js work, in order to better understand their decisions. The subjectivity of scoring is part of what makes the sport unique, and the nature of the contest means that strong opinions are formed by teams and fans, but that should not impact negatively on the integrity of the officials," it said.
However, a decision which is bound to raise a few eyebrows is the one to reinstate the 36 officials suspended after the Games.
"The reintegration process of those officials into the new-look R&J structure will now begin on a case by case basis, and an extensive series of courses and workshops is being implemented to grow and enhance the pool of first-class officials around the world," it said.