Paris Olympics: Why India declined women’s 57kg boxing quota and what next

As reported on Thursday by The Indian Express, the BFI confirmed that Parveen, who had won a quota for Paris 2024 by winning the bronze medal at the 2022 Asian Games, has been suspended for 22 months by the International Testing Agency (ITA) for Whereabouts Failures. Four Indian boxers had qualified for the Olympics, which begin in July 26 — Nikhat Zareen (flyweight), Preeti Sai Pawar (bantamweight), Parveen Hooda (featherweight) and Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (middleweight). This now brings India’s participation down to three, pending the final qualifiers.

The IOC also confirmed the development in response to a query from The Indian Express: “As a result of these developments, the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of India, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has notified the IOC Paris 2024 Boxing Unit (PBU) of their decision to decline the Paris 2024 Olympic Quota Place won by boxer Parveen Hooda in the Women’s 57kg event at the 2023 Asian Games.”

The IOC statement added that the Indian team also has the possibility to shift one of their registered main or reserve boxers from another weight category to the role of main boxer in the Women’s 57kg weight category.

Ankushita Boro (60kg) and Arundhati Choudhary (66kg) have been named in the squad for Bangkok. Given that a boxer from 66kg is unlikely to make the weight cut for 57kg, it’d have be from the 60kg category.

As per the BFI evaluation document for the Olympic Qualifiers, Jaismine is No.2 in the 60kg list followed by Simranjit Kaur Baath in third place and Manisha in fourth place.

Parveen’s legal representatives, comprising the Krida Legal team led by Vidushpat Singhania and representatives from OGQ along with BFI officials led by Colonel Arun Malik, were in touch with the WADA’s Anti-Doping Ombuds as well as the International Testing Agency (ITA) – the concerned Results Management Authority.

“While it’s regrettable that Parveen won’t be able to compete for India and will be serving the suspension, I am happy that we were able to at least reduce the suspension period and she will be back in the ring soon,” said Ajay Singh, President of BFI.

The ITA has proposed a sanction on Parveen, entailing the imposition of an ineligibility period of 22 months, which has been now backdated by 8 months as compared to the initial suspension period of 24 months backdated by 6 months. In essence, the sanction is of 14 months, starting from May 17, 2024.

“We exhaustively pursued every avenue and explored all potential solutions to safeguard the Olympic quota and supported Praveen against potential suspension. Our proactive outreach to ITA and WADA emphasized the unintentional nature of the boxer’s actions, particularly given her father’s terminal illness,” said Hemanta Kalita, BFI Secretary General.

“The failure arose on account of Ms. Hooda lacking the ability and technical know-how required for operating the Anti-Doping Administration & Management System (ADAMS) platform, owing to which a gap arose in Ms. Hooda being able to fill her whereabouts information accurately and consistently. Ms. Hooda’s failure to comply in the present instance arose solely on account of her lack of knowledge and technical understanding of the ADAMS platform,” said Singhania, the boxer’s legal counsel.

In order to once again open the pathway, after receiving an email communication from Parveen expressing her sincere regret in being unable to participate at the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris, the Federation has declined the quota spot won by Parveen in the 57kg category so that it becomes eligible to compete at the 2nd World Olympic qualifier once again and aim to regain the spot, the BFI statement added.