Gaurav Bidhuri Cries Foul At Exclusion From Olympic Qualifiers’ Trial

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Former World Championship bronze medalist pugilist Gaurav Bidhuri has raised questions over the selection process for the upcoming trials in view of next year’s Olympic qualifier to be held in Wuhan, China. Bidhuri has further urged the Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju to intervene into the matter.

In a letter addressed to Sports minister Rijiju, Boxing Federation of India (BFI) and Sports Authority of India (SAI), Bidhuri said that he was improperly excluded from the trials scheduled to be held on Dec 29 and 30 in Ballari, Karnataka.

Bidhuri told PTI, “I am fed up with this unjust system. This year, World Championship medalists were given a direct entry into the Olympic qualifiers. But when I won the world bronze medal in 2017, I was not allowed to play in Commonwealth and Asian Games trials. At that time I was told that I did not participate in enough competitions, this time I am being told that I did not face tough rivals. Can someone explain to me what is the selection criteria here? It does not make sense.”

Bidhuri wanted to participate in the 57kg trial for China’s qualifier in February. However, the BFI has chosen Kavinder Singh Bisht (World Championship quarter finalist and Asian silver medalist), Commonwealth Games medalists Mohammad Hasamuddin and Gaurav Solanki and former World Youth Champion Sachin Sivach for the trials in the 57kg category based on the ranking points system. The boxers who have been exempted from the trials are Amit Panghal (52kg) and Manish Kaushik (63kg).

Responding to Bidhuri’s allegations, the federation’s top official, on the condition of anonymity, said that the boxer was excluded on the basis of performance. The official said, “The selection policy has been public for a long time. No discrimination has been done as he is alleging”

He does not want to get into the specifics but the ranking is purely on the basis of performance. When asked about sports minister interference the official said that the Sports Minister has clarified in the past that he cannot interfere in selection matters as it would be in violation of the Olympic Charter.

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