A new chapter was added to the annals of Indian boxing with the country becoming one of the four Asian franchisees in the high-profile World Series of Boxing (WSB) slated for September next year.
“Yes, India is one of the eight franchisees that have been selected by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) so far,” WSB chief operating officer Ivan Khodabakhsh revealed from AIBA headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
“Four more franchisees remain to be picked and for that I would soon be travelling to America. By July, the whole process would be over and details of the selected franchisees will be revealed,” said Khodabakhsh, also the AIBA sports director.
He, however, refused to divulge the name of the corporate house that has obtained the Indian franchise. Khodabakhsh also didn’t reveal the other three Asian franchisees that were picked in a meeting held earlier this month.
A total of 12 city-based franchisees — four each from Asia, America and Europe and worth $10 million — will fight it out in an inter-continental series that borrows heavily from professional boxing. Each franchisee will have a team of at least 10 boxers with a maximum of three foreign imports in it. The franchisees will also get a pool of reserve boxers.
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