Three boxers move Delhi HC after failing to make cut for World Ch’ship team

In their writ petition, Manju Rani, Shiksha Narwal and Poonam Poonia argued that all the gold medallists at the national championships held in December 2022 at Bhopal, were selected except them.

File Photo: Manju Rani of RSPB (red) celebrates after winning the gold in the 48kg category final of the 6th Elite National women’s Boxing Championship at Tatya Tope Stadium in Bhopal on December 26, 2022. | Photo Credit: A.M.FARUQU/The Hindu

National champions Manju Rani (48kg), Shiksha Narwal (54kg) and Poonam Poonia (60kg) on Monday moved the Delhi High Court over their non-inclusion in the Indian side for the World women’s boxing championships to be held in Delhi from March 16 to 26.

The case has been listed for hearing on Tuesday on an urgent basis, said the boxers’ lawyer Sandeep Lamba.

The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) selected a 12-member team, including nine National champions, for the elite event, as per the new selection policy based on an evaluation system. It took into account the boxers’ performance during training (including endurance and strength, and conditioning) and sparring (technical and tactical skills) sessions.

High-performance director Bernard Dunne, women’s chief coach Bhaskar Bhatt and men’s chief coach C.A. Kuttappa awarded points to the athletes for their performances over three weeks. An athlete who topped the list in a weight category was selected for the World Championships.

Manju, Shiksha and Poonam scored 564, 573 and 567 points to come second behind Nitu Ghanghas (634), Preeti (623) and Jaismine Lamboria (612), respectively.

Lamba said the case was based on the fact that while nine National champions were picked for the World Championships, three were left out.

“Nitu (in 50kg) gave a walkover in the (Haryana) state championships but got into the National camp soon after that. Shiksha, who competed in the 2022 World championships, had beaten Preeti in the National championships, while Poonam had defeated Olympian Simranjit Kaur in the Nationals where Jaismine did not take part,” said Lamba.

Manju, also a former Worlds silver medallist, said they were left out despite regularly attending training sessions. “Some of the girls missed some of the training sessions but got selected, whereas we never missed any session and were not selected,” said Manju, adding they had written to the BFI highlighting their grievance.

Earlier, the BFI had said that the evaluation system was fair and the boxers were informed about it beforehand.