THRISSUR: It has been an year and a half since the boxing world adopted the new system of scoring devised by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) but India, it seems, is still stuck in the past. The pugilists competing in the boxing events of the National Games here are being graded according to the ‘punch-count' system that was discarded by AIBA before the 2013 World Championships.
The old system, which featured points being awarded for landing a punch on the opponents head or body, was replaced with the Ten Point Must-System where the fighters are awarded points out of 10 by three judges for each round.
But organisers of the boxing event at the Games told TNIE that they had decided to go with the old system because they did not have the software required to implement the new system.
"We do not have the software required to implement the new system that was adopted by AIBA in 2013. Before the Games, we considered using a manual version of the system where the judges will score the round on paper. But this proposal was voted down by all the teams and everyone agreed that we use the old system," Narender Singh Mor, competitions manager of boxing events at the Games, said.
Mor added that the software required to implement the new system was available with Boxing India, but they were unwilling to release it. "The recently held National Championships saw one arena using the electronic version of the system, and the second arena using a manual version of the system. But Boxing India was unwilling to release the software."
The decision means that the boxers have missed out on another opportunity to get used to the new system which focuses more on technique and ring generalship than scoring punches. A former boxing official, who wished to remain anonymous, also cautioned that using an outdated system might lead to sanctions from AIBA, but Mor moved quickly to dissuade any such fears. "We had requested AIBA multiple times to make the software required for the new system, but they were unable to do it. Moreover, the Swiss firm that makes the software was blacklisted in India after the 2010 Commonwealth Games, so it is impossible for us to procure on our own."