Int'l Amateur Boxing Association May Soon Show Green Light To India's Boxers

Indian boxers "may swing back into action soon" with the Int'l Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) "showing signs of relenting to requests from the country's Olympic bosses that the players' future should not be harmed," according to Narayan Swamy of the TIMES OF INDIA. A teleconference held between IOC member in India Randhir Singh and AIBA President Dr. Ching-Kuo Wu on Tuesday "has paved the way for the boxers to return to mainstream." Wu apparently "agreed that boxers could not be held responsible for the Indian federation's faults." He reportedly assured Randhir that "he would take steps to reverse the ban." Randhir "will officially seek a rollback of the January decision, which slammed the door on Indian boxers and coaches from global meets" (TIMES OF INDIA, 2/20). REUTERS' Sudipto Ganguly reported the AIBA "suspended the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation in early December for 'possible manipulation' of its elections, in the wake of a wider Olympic ban that has sent shockwaves through sport in the South Asian country." Indian Bronze Medal middleweight Vijender Singh, whose helped raise boxing's profile in India, "was glad to hear news of a development." Vijender said, "We never stopped training, hoping there will be some solution some day" (REUTERS, 2/20).