Indian boxing needs more female representation, says BFI chief Ajay Singh

Even though Mary Kom has been the face of Indian boxing for more than a decade now, and Indian female boxers are making their mark across all age categories, the backroom staff remains a male domain.

According to Boxing Federation of India chief Ajay Singh, that is the one thing in dire need of change.

“How can you have a (male) medical staff that goes with women for championships. We have to make an extra effort to identify more and more women coaches, support staff. That’s a huge priority for us.

“We need to involve more women everywhere, including in the management of the sport. The fact that today we have an executive committee with very few women is a big shame. We have tried to include more people, but we just have to do much more.”

Currently, there is only one woman in BFI’s executive council of 19. Danuska Da Gama, of the Goa Amateur Boxing Association, is the zonal secretary (West Zone). Singh said that he would also consider reserving a certain number of places, 33 per cent to begin with, on the council to get more women involved in the process.

“As in most things, it has been a male-dominated sport,” Singh, who was re-elected as the BFI president in February said.

“But India is better off. We’ve had women’s boxing for a long time but we need to reach out more. We are better off than what we were about four years ago. But clearly lots to be done, especially in the medical, coaching and physio work.

“We need female physios. We have to find more women in each category; give them special incentives and be a little more flexible in our terms and conditions. I think we need to have a different mindset on how to deal with women in sport.”

In general, the boxing world has left it late to include women in its fold. Boxing was first introduced into the Olympics in 1904 – it took more than a century for women’s boxing to become an Olympic sport. Mary Kom planted the Indian flag at the breakthrough London 2012 Games by winning a bronze in the flyweight category.

But the wheels are in motion. In London, and Rio 2016, there were three weight categories for female boxers. That has already expanded to five for the Tokyo Games.

Fortunately, India had a boxing structure in place when the global shift happened. At the recent Adriatic Pearl Youth Boxing event, India stood first in the women’s field with 10 medals, five of them gold.

“We have a specific advantage that boxing here started early. Indian women do very well on the global stage,” Singh added.

To make sure India keeps pace with that, they will not only need more young talent coming through the ranks, but enough women in support staff and decision-making positions to nurture it.