NEW DELHI: India’s rights to host the 2021 Men’s World Boxing Championships remains doubtful after failing to host Kosovar boxer Donjeta Sadiku (light 60kg) at the ongoing Women’s World Championships here. A day after the draw, where Sadiku’s fate was sealed, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) sent a statement with a warning to India that they might reconsider its bid.
“We are deeply concerned by this situation. Any boxer shouldn’t be affected by any political decision while trying to achieve the dream of competing at the international level. Politics and sports should in no way be mixed. We appreciate the efforts made by the Boxing Federation of India, but AIBA will need to reconsider the 2021 Men’s World Championships bid.
This being said, we wish to reiterate our sincere apologies to Donjeta SADIKU and the boxing family of Kosovo,” AIBA president Gafur Rakhimov said. Accepting the gravity of the situation, Boxing Federation of India (BFI) president Ajay Singh said that the federation will do everything possible to ensure that the flagship event is not taken away.
“As far as we are concerned at Boxing Federation of India, we fully respect AIBA’s statement. However, when you need to host a championship, a county has certain sovereign functions and the country will exercise those functions. As a sporting federation, the BFI has tried to persuade the Government of India and will continue to do the same,” Singh said.
Sadiku was denied participation as India does not recognise Kosovo as a sovereign country. The BFI and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had made a late attempt to fix the problem but to no avail with Sadiku ending up missing out on the event. “I think time was very short. Given some time, I’m confident that the Government of India will find a way to ensure that such things don’t happen.”
Singh also added that the IOA and BFI will have a meeting again to address the matter soon. “We will have a meeting again with the government at various levels and explain to them that this issue is something entirely new.”
There are also some countries that do not recognise some other nations but have found a way out to make Olympic sports separate from the process of recognition. Spain is a good example. They had also come under IOC scrutiny for ignoring Kosovo athletes. Just a day ago, the Spanish government lifted the ban. Singh is hopeful that the Indian government can follow suit.
India were confirmed as hosts last year in July.
The president who has played a key role in reviving Indian boxing after his arrival in 2016 is positive and said that the BFI would look to host more marquee events in the future. “We hope to resolve this situation well beforehand so that we don’t lose the event. As we have seen, we held the Youth World Championships last year and now we are hosting this event. If you speak to AIBA, players and officials, they all compliment the way India is organising these events. These events are vital to developing a sporting culture in our country,” he said.
“We will be hosting the India Open again next year, he added. “There were many top participants in the inaugural event and we are hoping for an even better participation. But I hope the 2021 championship is not taken away. We hope to resolve the issue as early as next week.”
amol@newindianexpress.com