Federation opts for tender process

Buoyed by the success of its boxers, the national federation has opted to go for a tender process to identify the promoter to take the sport to the next level in the country.

The Secretary-General of the Indian Boxing Federation (IBF), Col. Muralidharan Raja, said a few marketing agents had already shown interest, and it was decided to go for a democratic process to get the best deal for the sport.

“Many companies like Sahara, IMG and Percept are interested in promoting the sport. We are going to release a tender soon. A minimum guarantee is being sought from the bidder by the federation. We will give 21 days for the companies to make their offer. Thereafter, we will make the best choice,” said Col. Raja, while addressing a press conference regarding the Commonwealth boxing championship in the Capital from March 10 to 18.

“We could have identified the title sponsor, etc by now, but we thought it better to give the marketing agent a chance to get an event of this stature straightaway,” said Col. Raja.

The IBF secretary-general also revealed that the organising committee of the Commonwealth Games would extend support in select areas like accommodation, as it would be a test event before the mega show.

Strong field

Except for Australia which had expressed its inability to make it for the Commonwealth championship owing to other commitments back home, the rest of the countries like England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Kenya, Samoa and Singapore are scheduled to field their teams.

“England will have a full team of 10 boxers. There are many other countries which are in the process of confirming their participation,” said Col. Raja.

National coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu said leading countries might not reveal all their cards, and possibly preserve the best for the Commonwealth Games. However, it would be a good opportunity for everyone concerned to get a feel of the infrastructure before the real show in October.

“I cannot comment or commit about our team, as I am only one of many selectors. We will study the performance of the boxers in the Super Cup inter-zone competition in Mumbai, apart from the trials. The selection would be done towards the end of February or early March,” said the coach.

Keen to improve

Though he was not ready to be drawn into a discussion about the prospects of the Indian boxers, Sandhu was quick to say that the Indian boxing team would be keen to improve on the five medals it had won in the last Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006 when Akhil Kumar bagged the gold.

Meanwhile, the International Boxing Association (IBA) has nominated Pat McCrory of Ireland as technical delegate for the Commonwealth championship and Keither Walker of New Zealand, Nieva Embuldenia of Sri Lanka and Eduard Abdulmanov of Russia as jury members.

The championship is scheduled to be held at the NDMC Indoor Stadium, which is expected to be ready by the end of January.