India offers to host Boxing Olympic Qualifiers

The qualifiers, scheduled to be held from February 3 to 15, will not be held in Wuhan due to the outbreak of coronavirus.

BFI president Ajay Singh (right) expressed the federation’s interest in hosting the event, in a letter to the chairman of IOC’s Task Force (Boxing).

The Boxing Federation of India has offered to host next month’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament after it was taken away from the Chinese city of Wuhan due to the outbreak of coronavirus. The qualifiers are scheduled to be held from February 3 to 15, but it has now become uncertain following the virus outbreak which has claimed 17 lives and infected more than 550 people.

“Due to any reason, if the event is to be shifted to a different country, Boxing Federation of India would be willing to host this Asian and Oceania Qualification Event 2020,” BFI president Ajay Singh stated in a letter to Morinari Watanabe, the chairman of the International Olympic Committee’s Task Force (Boxing).

“We propose to organise this event at K. D. Jadhav Indoor Hall, Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex, New Delhi, where we earlier hosted the AIBA Elite Women’s World Boxing Championship in November, 2018,” he added.

The BFI’s proposal has been backed by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). “My request to you, if could consider the offer from BFI for which IOA assures IOC and you of its full support and cooperation,” IOA president Narinder Batra stated in a letter to Watanbe.

The Olympic qualifying process for boxing is currently being administered by the IOC Task Force after the International Boxing Association (AIBA) was suspended for alleged administrative mismanagement and financial bungling.

India hosted the women’s World Youth Championships in 2017 and the senior women’s World Championships. It will host the 2021 men’s showpiece event.