By Sports Bureau
When Vijender Singh stepped onto the podium to receive what was a historic bronze in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Indian boxing was expected to take off like never before and attain dizzying heights.
The progress was visible when eight pugilists qualified for the 2012 London Games but perhaps as a precursor to the disaster that was to follow, only one – M.C. Mary Kom – won a medal. That disappointing show set the tone for the turmoil that engulfed the sport after the Games’ conclusion. It all began in September 2012 when polls were held to elect office-bearers for the now-defunct Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (I.A.B.F.). After what seemed like a smooth transition of power, there came a bolt from the blue when the federation stood suspended for manipulating elections. The International Boxing Association (A.I.B.A.) was said to be furious vis-a-vis rampant factionalism in the I.A.B.F. and the consequence was that Indian pugilists were to be denied foreign exposure sans A.I.B.A. clearance. They were not to be invited for training-cum-exposure trips that played a crucial role in Indians' success prior to 2012. A new national federation did take shape in 2014 but was ruined in less than a year following another round of factional conflict.
To their credit, the boxers made sure that the deleterious effects of administrative turmoil did not have much of a bearing on their outcome in international tournaments for some time but grit alone was never going to be sufficient. The gold medal count gradually declined and a solitary Indian pugilist has thus far qualified for the Rio Olympics. “What do you do except for shutting your mind off? We can hardly do anything else,” says Shiva Thapa.
An ad-hoc committee runs the sport in the country and there’s hope of a new national body being formed after bickering administrators finally found some common ground recently. However, the sheer absurdity and pettiness of the infighting makes one cynical about what may lie in store for a sport that had everything going for it not so long back.