India offers to host Olympic boxing qualifier after Coronavirus grips Wuhan

The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) has offered to host next month’s Olympic Qualifying tournament, which has been cancelled in the Chinese city of Wuhan following the outbreak of coronavirus. The qualifiers were scheduled from February 3 to 15 but the schedule has now become uncertain following the health crisis in Wuhan, which has so far claimed 17 lives and infected over 550 people.

“…due to any reason, if the event is to be shifted to a different country, Boxing Federation of India would be willing to host this Asian and Oceania Qualification Event 2020,” BFI President Ajay Singh stated in a letter to the Chairman of the International Olympic Committees Task Force (Boxing) Morinari Watanabe.

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“We propose to organise this event at KD Jadhav Indoor Hall, Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex, New Delhi, where we earlier hosted the AIBA Elite Women’s World Boxing Championship in November 2018,” he added. The Olympic qualifying process for boxing is currently being administered by the IOC Task Force after the International Boxing Association (AIBA) was suspended for alleged administrative mismanagement and financial bungling.

The BFIs proposal has been backed by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). “My request to you, it could consider the offer from BFI for which IOA assures IOC and you of its full support and cooperation,” IOA President Narinder Batra stated in a letter to Watanabe. India, having hosted the women’s World Youth Championships in 2017 and the senior women’s World Championships, will host the 2021 men’s showpiece.