Place On Record Procedure To Be Followed For Conducting Fresh Trials For World Championship: Delhi High Court Directs BFI In Arundhati Choudhary's Plea

Hearing a plea of boxer Arundhati Choudhary who has challenged the decision of the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) of not selecting her for the upcoming Women's World Boxing Championships, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the Federation to place on record the procedure to be followed for conducting fresh trials for the championship which now stands postponed to May next year amid covid 19 situation.

The development came after Advocate Hrishikesh Baruah appearing for BFI informed the Court that the Championship, which was scheduled to be held in Istanbul from December 4 to 18, has now been postponed till March 2022.

Taking the aforesaid submission on record, the Court also took note of the submission that in light of the aforesaid, Choudhary's grievance may no longer survive as fresh trials may be required to be conducted before sending names for the championship.

Accordingly, the Court granted four weeks time to the Federation for bring on record the procedure to be followed for conducting the said fresh trials.

The matter was accordingly adjourned to January 31.

Earlier, the Court had remarked that "a lot has to be said" about the manner in which sportsperson are being treated in the country, granted some time to the national sports body to come to a final conclusion.

Choudhary, who claimed to be an International boxing champion, had approached the Court seeking a direction on the Respondents to consider her candidature in the 70 Kg category for the event.

Her counsel had previously submitted that in the light of her excellent record of holding a gold medal in the recent women championship in Hisar, she ought to have been preferred over any other player.

Earlier, the Court had expressed its dissatisfaction over the functioning of various sports federations and the regular cases by way of which various players had approached the Court recently, highlighting their grievances.

Case Title: Arundhati Choudhary v. BFI