Boxer Ashish Chaudhary's disqualification triggers refereeing controversy at Nationals

Greater Noida, Jan 6 (PTI) The refereeing at the ongoing National Boxing Championships has come under scrutiny, prompting the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) to order a review after Olympian Ashish Chaudhary was disqualified from his opening-round bout.

Competing in the men's lightweight category (80kg), the 2019 Asian Championships silver medallist was disqualified less than two minutes into the contest on Monday after it was ruled that he had intentionally clashed heads with Haryana's Rupesh, causing a bleeding.

The referee initially deemed the incident accidental and administered a standing count to Rupesh before calling for medical attention.

However, following consultations with the Technical Delegate, the decision was overturned and Ashish was disqualified, triggering protests from the Himachal Pradesh boxer, who lodged an official complaint.

The BFI subsequently initiated a review and stripped the referee involved off his duty for a day.

"We asked the Technical Delegate to look into it and he said since we are investigating the facts of what happened for that particular time we will not give any duty to the referee. The referee has been put back on roster," BFI Executive Director Col Arun Malik told PTI.

"After taking the statements from the referee, the technical delegate made a report which states that the decision was made exactly as per the technical rules and regulation of World Boxing and it was a fair decision," he added.

Ashish insists the head clash was accidental.

"Whoever is seeing the video is agreeing that it was in the moment I have not purposefully hit him with me head. I was moving out after leaning to hit him and his head made contact. Is this how you treat an Olympian?" Ashish asked.

The Himachal Pradesh Boxing Association (HPBA), however, has strongly objected to the ruling.

"We strongly condemn and protest this. If you see the video, the referee has signalled that it was accidental and not intentional," HPBA President and BFI Vice President Rajesh Bhandari said.

The BFI has been live steaming the Nationals but interestingly the video of the bout has been removed from the federation's Youtube page.

The episode has also led to questions within the boxing fraternity over the credentials of the Technical Official involved.

"Narendra Nirwan is not himself a qualified Technical Official. He should not be sitting there in the first place. How is he making these call," said an official on conditions of anonymity. PTI APA APA PDS PDS APA