New Delhi: With the selection of Indian boxing teams for the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games under scrutiny, the Sports Ministry on Tuesday issued a showcause notice to the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) highlighting issues related to “administrative, governance and selection of athletes.”
The notice comes as the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has been flagging violations in BFI’s selection policy with regard to the Sports Ministry’s over-arching guidelines on athlete selection announced for National Sports Federations last year.
As per the showcause, BFI’s selection policy is “ambiguous,” and the criteria governing entry through the second pathway to the National Coaching Camp have not been clearly defined. “The 2nd COAS Open Cup, from which selection of athletes for NCC has been done had restricted entry, which is in violation of guidelines of the Sports Ministry (vide circular dated 5.3.2025.),” as per the notice.
“…the selection of athletes does not appear to have been carried out in fair and transparent manner…”
The Ministry said that “signed minutes of the selection committee have not been submitted by BFI.”
In the showcause, the Sports Ministry also said it has received “multiple grievances” concerning the overall functioning of the BFI. The Ministry has given BFI seven days to reply on the show cause notice.
These relates to violations regarding constitution of “Grievance Redressal Committee/Appeal Committee for athletes, selection committee for selection of coaches, not appointing High Performance Director “despite repeated reminders,” and lapses related to junior/youth development programme as required under revised norms of assistance to NSFs.
It also said BFI is also not adhering to timelines for submission of proposals for international training and competition.
The boxing selection process has also been revised after a meeting between BFI and SAI officials. BFI secretary general Pramod Kumar and two top coaches — Santiago Nieva and CA Kuttappa met top SAI officials who told BFI the current selection process of boxers was inadequate and that a revised selection process based on fairness and transparency should be drawn.
Revised selection process
Consequently, it was learnt that the BFI has proposed that selection for the Asian Games and CWG will be done afresh from May 13-15 through a transparent evaluation system based on sparring performance and the marking system used previously will not be followed.
A 5-judge bench comprising the head coach and four judges will evaluate the bouts. While earlier sparring bout results were part of the marking process, the new process will see scores being announced immediately in the ring. The scoring mechanism was one of the complaints raised by several boxers.
This means that for the first time since former HPD Bernard Dunne’s exit, the boxing team will be picked entirely on the basis of selection trials.
Meanwhile several medallists of the 2nd COAS Cup met SAI officials and raised their issues. They were in line to take part in the selection process as per BFI’s policy. “We have trained hard to qualify for the evaluation process. The boxers should not suffer because of administrative issues,” said a boxer on condition of anonymity.
One of the reasons for disqualifying the COAS Cup from the the selection process was that four teams from the Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) were given entry into the men’s competition. Army, Air Force, Navy and hosts Army Sports Institute, besides the top seven teams from Senior Nationals and teams from IIS and SAI, NCOE competed in the men’s competition from Mar 31-April 4.
