Indian boxing federation suspended by international body over election manipulation

Close on the heels of the suspension of the Indian Olympic Association, India's boxing body and its former president Abhay Singh Chautala were handed a knock down when the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) provisionally suspended the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) in a major development late on Thursday.

The decision, taken by the AIBA at a meeting at Lausanne, Switzerland, comes two days after the International Olympic Committee suspended the Indian Olympic Association, of whom Chautala, former president of IABF, was elected as president on Wednesday.

AIBA's official statement read: "Further to the International Olympic Committee's suspension imposed on the Indian Olympic Association, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) Executive Committee Bureau has decided today, 6 December 2012, to provisionally suspend the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF). This provisional suspension is also due to the fact that AIBA had learned about possible manipulation of the recent IABF's election. AIBA will now investigate this election and especially a potential political link between IOA President, as former Chairman of the IABF, and the IABF election."

2013 will see the Asian Boxing Championships, the venue and dates for which are yet to be decided and the World Championships in October to be held in Kazakhstan. Under the ban, the participation of Indian boxers under the Indian flag becomes uncertain.

Earlier in September this year, the IABF had elected BJP MLA Abhishek Singh Matoria as its president in the Annual General meeting and Chautala made a re-entry as 'chairman' of the federation. The Indian Amatuer Boxing Federation had at that point amended its constitution to accommodate Chautala, and had created the post of the chairman at the meeting held in Patiala.

With the suspension, the world body can now hold a meeting with the Indian association and the suspension could be lifted if the elections are held again according to the rules, something they mentioned did not happen in September.

... contd.

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