New Delhi: Nikhat Zareen’s selection for the Asian Boxing Championships has been questioned by competitor Jyoti Gulia, who has called for a review of the evaluation process and her trial bouts against the two-time world champion. Gulia has alleged that she was the “clear winner” in the trial against Nikhat.
Jyoti has raised the issue with the Boxing Federation of India (BFI), and has also written to the Sports Authority of India, asking for a review of the “assessment process and trial bouts.”
“During the competition trials, I convincingly outperformed my opponents with a clear margin, which can be objectively verified through the official bout video recordings. Despite these performances, I was placed at Rank 3 in my weight category. This outcome has caused me serious concern, as it does not appear to reflect the performance demonstrated during both the assessment tests and the trial bouts,” Jyoti wrote to the CEO of TOPS Division, SAI on Friday. A copy of the letter is with HT.
“In the interest of fairness and justice, I respectfully request a thorough and impartial review of my trial bouts videos, assessment scores, and evaluation criteria applied in my case,” she said.
The national camp boxers were assessed from February 18 to 27 to select the team for the Asian Championships. They were evaluated on various parameters, including strength and conditioning tests, sparring sessions (trial bouts), health management, and attendance at the national camp.
Maximum weightage is given to the trial bouts, with each competitor facing one another in a particular weight class. Nikhat, Nitu Ghanghas, Jyoti Gulia, and Tanu were four boxers who went through the assessment process in the 51kg weight class. Nikhat came out on top of the rankings, while Nitu was given the second position and Jyoti third. The Asian meet will be held in Mongolia from March 28 to April 11. It will be the first tournament for two-time world champion Nikhat, who skipped the Boxam tournament in Spain.
The finalist at the Asian Boxing Championship will be getting a direct entry for the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games this year, which raised the stakes for the boxers during the recent selection. This was the first selection done under women’s team head coach Santiago Nieva.
Jyoti, a former youth world champion and two time national champion, also raised doubts about the transparency of the process. “We are only told about the rankings. We are not given the entire evaluation and scores of the trials. I asked for the video of my bouts. They showed me the bout against Nikhat but did not hand me the video,” she told HT.
“We don’t get to know the scores of our sparring sessions. Even the hand of the boxer is not raised. How do we know who has won? We are not given details about the entire evaluation. After the process is completed we are just informed about the ranking. How can I be satisfied just like that? I have won both my bouts and I want a fair review. If need be I am ready to move the court,” said Jyoti.
BFI executive director Arun Malik said Jyoti came to the head coach with her query and it was explained to her. “The coach showed her the video of her bout and explained to her. As per the SAI policy, BFI provides SAI with the details regarding selection of teams including videos of sparring.”
“This assessment process has been giving us fantastic results. The fact that we are winning medals in every international event including world championships is a testament to it. We have a strong bench strength and it makes it very competitive for the boxers to make it to the team. It is natural for those who couldn’t make the cut to be disappointed,” he told HT.
