A livid International Boxing Association on Friday said it plans to sue Hockey India Secretary General Narinder Batra for alleging that AIBA accepted money to approve the ad-hoc ‘Boxing India’ group for running the sport in the country following the federation’s termination.
“We refer to the scandalous and totally wrong allegations made by Mr Narinder Batra, the Secretary General of your National Federation which was published very recently,” AIBA’s Executive Director Ho Kim said in a letter to HI president Mariamma Koshy.
“Please note that AIBA will not tolerate to be accused of having received a big amount of money from Boxing India for the latter to be accepted as the new National Member Federation in India.
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“This information is totally wrong and AIBA is expecting to receive immediate explanation and proof of these allegations with evidence on this matter from Mr Batra for having spread such a rumour which is tarnishing the image of AIBA as well of Boxing India,” he added.
The chairman of long-time Indian boxing sponsor Monnet Ispat Limited, Sandeep Jajodia, and owner of India’s World Series of Boxing franchise, Udit Sheth are part of the consortium which has got the AIBA’s nod for provisional representation and is most likely to get formal approval as well.
Mr. Batra had alleged that the group paid a hefty amount to AIBA for getting the approval.
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Mr. Kim said the allegations are nothing but lies.
“Mr Batra should be ashamed of questioning the integrity of AIBA as he has obviously absolutely no idea of the way our International Federation operates, of AIBA Ethics and principles of transparency. In addition, his criticism of Mr Narayan Ramachandran, President of the Indian Olympic Association, are also totally unfounded,” he said.
As we are now preparing an international media/press article on this matter and a legal suit against Mr Batra and your National Federation which he also represents, I am giving you a chance to explain this matter immediately before we proceed with our actions,” Mr. Kim added.
It was on March 3 that the AIBA Executive Committee decided to terminate India “due to serious violations of the AIBA Statutes and Bylaws.”
Following the termination, it was decided to establish a new national federation in India with the right group of people who would support the principles of AIBA in terms of ethics and fairness.
Finally, Boxing India, which is backed by the Maharashtra Boxing Association, was approved by AIBA to represent India till the time a new federation takes charge after a general assembly.