SAI alleges violation of human rights after 8 unmarried junior pugilists were to undergo tests; Boxing India says it is as per latest AIBA rules
Boxing India (BI) secretary Jay Kowli has rubbished the claim of Sports Authority of India consultant PSM Chandran that eight unmarried and junior woman boxers were subjected to forceful pregnancy test ahead of next week's World Championships in Korea.
"As per the AIBA (International Boxing Association) rules, every woman boxer has to undergo a pregnancy test before any international competition. Without it, no player can participate," Kowli said on Thursday. "So, all these woman boxers requested BI on October 28 to arrange a doctor for their necessary medical examination which was required to be sent to the AIBA."
However, Chandran alleged in his letter that all boxers, including junior and unmarried, were compelled to undergo pregnancy tests. "Pregnancy tests were carried out on eight young unmarried boxers, some even juniors, a classic case of human rights violation," Chandran made the revelation in a press release on Wednesday.
Chandran claimed that it was done against rules. "In the AIBA Technical Rules, which came into effect on August 31, there is no provision to subject boxers to pregnancy tests. The rule states 'Woman boxers must additionally submit a non- pregnancy declaration along with the medical certificate. For boxers under the age of 18, this non-pregnancy declaration must be signed by at least one of their parents or legal guidance'," said Chandran.
He even threatened to move Women's Commission for this alleged violation of human rights.
But SAI Executive Director (Teams) Sudhir Setia also rejected Chandran's claims, saying: "Under the AIBA rules, a medical certificate of the federation doctor declaring that the boxer is not pregnant has to be provided to the world body. This is not the first time our woman boxers have been subjected to such tests. No junior boxer was subjected to the test," said Setia.
dna has learnt that the whole confusion has arisen after the recent AIBA rule change saying "it has now been made mandatory for all boxers to get certificate from a doctor and not just the declaration as was the case earlier".
This was necessitated after a South African female professional boxer last month (October 25) died following a knockout punch that put her in coma. Light middleweight Phindile Mwelase, 31, fell into a coma on October 10 after a fight against Liz Butler, who defeated her by a knockout. She later died at a Pretoria hospital.
"Instead of only relying on personal declaration by woman boxers, AIBA now wants all boxers to get the test done by qualified doctors. This is why our eight woman boxers, currently in Delhi for camp, requested us to arrange a doctor," Kowli added.
Kowli, however, has promised that BI will make all the arrangements in the near future to educate woman boxers about the new rules. "We're in the process of appointing players' commission with women representative also to look into the problems of our boxers. Also, our website will be up and running shortly and it will have all the latest information and international rules loaded in order to avoid a repetition of this kind of confusion in the future."
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