BHOPAL: In 2018, he belonged to
Madhya Pradesh
and represented the state in national tournament. In 2019, however, he has been denied permission to appear even for the selection trials. And the reason he is told: He hails from
Haryana.
Madhya Pradesh
boxing
association will issue show cause notice to Indore boxing association over the controversy.
Kapil Sharma, a
national-level boxer
had represented MP last year. He was surprised when his name was omitted from the list of boxers for the selection trails for selecting MP team on Saturday in Jabalpur. Sharma had even showed a letter written by sports minister Jeetu Patwari but that was also rejected. “I do not know why name was omitted. I had represented MP last year. This year they have made me a Haryana boxer,” said Sharma.
When contacted, the technical officer of the selection trials Virendra Thakur said, “His name was not recommended by the
Indore district
association. In such situation he was not considered for selection trials.”
Thakur was unknown as how Sharma was played from Indore district association in 2018. “We depend on the district association. Whatever list they provide we go by those names only,” said Thakur. He was even clueless about the procedure followed by the district association for selecting the boxers at the district level. “I do not know whether there was any event organised to select the district team,” said Thakur.
Incidentally, the rule is that district team is selected by organising district level championship. Selected boxers of the district level championship recommended for the state selection trials.
President, MP Boxing Association, Sanjay Seth reacted when he was contacted about the controversy. “I am not able to understand as why hell lot of people from Bhopal and Indore are calling me for Kapil Sharma. Indore association told us that he was from Haryana. Due to this reason he was not allowed to appear for the selection trials,” said Seth.
Seth was also clueless as how Sharma represented MP in 2018 if he was from Haryana. “We will issue the show cause notice to the association. We will take strict action against the culprit,” said Seth.
Notably, several district associations including Bhopal have been debarred by the state boxing association from selection trails for past few years. “I am waiting for past five years as why Bhopal association has been debarred. Several talented boxers are not able to play due to this reason.”