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Ajay Singh, who can be the managing director of SpiceJet Airlines, being felicitated after his re-election as President of the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) for a 3rd consecutive time period, in Gurugram, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. | Photo Credit: PTI
The elections had been postponed by over six months as a consequence of authorized wrangling.
Singh, who can be the managing director of SpiceJet Airlines, gained the competition 40-26 in opposition to 1982 Asian Games bronze medallist boxer Pradhan, who had the backing of the rival faction after former sports activities minister Anurag Thakur’s inclusion within the electoral faculty was rejected.
“I’m just happy that we get to continue the good work that the BFI has been doing for the past eight years,” Singh advised PTI after his victory.
“As you realize, India’s rank on the earth has gone up from quantity 44 eight years in the past to rank 4. That provides us immense satisfaction… that Indian boxers are actually getting the chance to field in worldwide championships and that they win so many medals and India will get to shine on the world stage.
“We want to continue that work and ensure that our boxers get many more opportunities and get to bring Olympic medals for the country,” he added.
Singh will probably be joined by new secretary basic Pramod Kumar of Uttar Pradesh, who edged out former BFI treasurer Digvijay Singh of Madhya Pradesh 36–30.
Kumar succeeds Assam’s Hemanta Kalita, who was ineligible to contest after finishing two consecutive four-year phrases and is now serving a compulsory cooling-off interval.
The treasurer’s place noticed a three-way struggle and Tamil Nadu’s Pon Baskaran secured the publish with 28 votes, defeating Anil Kumar Bohidar and R. Gopu.
No observer from ministry, IOA; World Boxing chief additionally skips polls
The polls had been carried out within the presence of Returning Officer Justice (retd) Rajesh Tandon and BFI interim committee head Fairuz Mohammed of Singapore, deputed by World Boxing as its observer.
World Boxing President Boris van der Vorst and Secretary General Mike McAtee, initially scheduled to attend as observers, had been additionally not current.
“Boris was unable to come yesterday, which was the plan. He will be travelling to India in the next few days to finalise the venue for the World Boxing Cup in November,” Singh mentioned.
The Sports Ministry and the IOA didn’t ship observers, a transfer that drew objections from the rival faction led by Himachal Pradesh unit chief Rajesh Bhandari.
“We wrote to them but they declined without giving any reason,” Singh mentioned.
It is known that the Ministry is adopting a wait and watch strategy till the court docket delivers its verdict.
“We have already told the Delhi High Court that we do not think that the procedure followed in the conduct of these elections is right. We will wait now and see what the court says,” a Ministry supply mentioned.
The outcomes of the polls stay topic to the ultimate verdict of an ongoing case within the Delhi High Court, the place a number of state models have challenged the constitutional amendments launched by the interim committee that had been overseeing BFI’s each day affairs.
The High Court has set September 23 as the following date of listening to.
“Of course the matter is occurring within the court docket and the court docket had mentioned in its final listening to that they needed the elections to go on.
“They also made the result of the elections subject to the final outcome of the case which is what happens every time a legal matter is filed in an election. So all of us will abide by the law of the land,” Singh mentioned.
Singh, who was first elected to workplace in 2016, mentioned his precedence can be to give attention to grassroots improvement.
“My foremost commitment is to ensure that every ounce of energy now goes into strengthening grassroots programs, empowering our junior and youth athletes, and building on India’s growing stature in world boxing.” The elections had been initially scheduled for March 28 however had been repeatedly stalled as a consequence of a collection of petitions, appeals and counter-appeals.
Published – August 21, 2025 11:32 pm IST
