Foreign exposure crucial for Indian boxers: Vijender Singh

New Delhi: Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh is advocating for Indian boxers to gain more international exposure, which he believes is vital for securing medals at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. Singh also stressed the need for new and fair elections in the Boxing Federation of India (BFI).

Since the Paris Olympics, boxing has been relatively quiet. In October and November of last year, youth boxers (both men and women) competed at the U19 World Boxing Championships in the USA.

The men's national championships took place in early January in Bareilly (UP), while the women's national championships, which were originally scheduled for February 21-28 in Lucknow, have been postponed.

Lovlina Borgohain, Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist, was among the top boxers competing at the National Games in Uttarakhand.

"The way our country is progressing in sports, I strongly feel that Indian boxers must get more foreign exposure in competitions from now onwards to secure medals at the LA Olympics 2028," Vijender posted on X on Wednesday.

"For that, we need to conduct fresh and fair elections ASAP to build a strong federation. I will be more than happy to contribute my experience if given any responsibility by our government. @PMOIndia @mansukhmandviya," he added.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Monday formed a five-member ad hoc committee to manage the day-to-day affairs of the Boxing Federation of India (BFI), citing administrative instability and the federation's inability to hold timely elections.

The current BFI office-bearers' tenure ended on February 2, but elections were delayed due to a pending case related to the previous elections, which ruled against the BFI.

The ad hoc panel will be headed by Madukant Pathak with Rajesh Bhandari has been appointed as vice chairman. Virendra Singh Thakur, Shiva Thapa and DP Bhatt are the other members of the committee.

The ad hoc panel will "address the grievances raised by the boxing community, facilitate athlete participation in upcoming international competitions, and work towards conducting the IBF elections at the earliest."

(inputs from IANS)