Neeraj Phogat: BFI selection criteria called into question after boxers claim favoritism | Boxing News –

NEW DELHI: The Boxing Federation of India’s (BFI) selection criteria for selecting the national team for the upcoming Asian Championships in Ulaanbaatar on Monday sparked controversy after two leading female boxers, Neeraj Phogat and Jyoti Gulia, alleged nepotism and result-fixing in selecting the 20-member contingent for the continental meet scheduled from March 28 to April 11 in the Mongolian capital.

Go beyond boundaries with our YouTube channel. Subscribe now!As per BFI policy, Asian Championship finalists in approved weight categories will be selected as direct participants for India at the CWG Asian Games in Glasgow and the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, to be held later this year.

Both Neeraj and Jyoti missed selection for the Ulaanbaatar encounter after failing the month-long BFI assessment test. The federation stopped holding an open selection trial for boxers, as was the norm, and instead introduced a performance-based evaluation process, with British Boxing Association officials and coaches having the final say.

Former world youth champion Jyoti finished third in the rankings behind Nikhat Zareen and Neetu Gangas in the 51kg category. WBC World Cup finals bronze medalist Neeraj lost her place in the national camp after finishing outside the classification bracket in the 65kg division. The four boxers selected in her weight category are Ankushita Boru, Sneha, Pranjal Yadav and Kajal. “Although some actions may appear to be consistent with BFI guidelines on paper, in practice, there is clear favouritism, manipulation and abuse of power.

“The policies are formulated and implemented in a manner that disproportionately benefits some favored boxers, particularly from the Services team, thereby compromising transparency and fairness in the selection process,” Neeraj wrote in her complaint to SAI Director General (DG) Hari Ranjan Rao.

She added: “I ask your office to order a comprehensive and impartial investigation into the above-mentioned violations; to form a high-level independent committee to investigate the selection procedures; review and cancel the current evaluation process; and restore open and transparent trials.” Jyoti also wrote an email to Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) CEO, NS Johal, and requested a review of the evaluation and trial matches while alleging nepotism. “During the competition trials, I convincingly outperformed my opponents by a clear margin (about 15-20 points), which can be objectively verified through official video recordings. Despite this performance, I was placed 3rd in my weight category. This result caused me serious concern, as it did not seem to reflect the performance demonstrated during the evaluation tests and trial bouts.

“In the interest of fairness and justice, I request a comprehensive and impartial review of the videos of my trial and the evaluation scores and evaluation criteria applied in my case,” she said.