BFI president Ajay Singh elected as vice-president of world boxing body

Boxing Federation of India (BFI) president Ajay Singh was elected as the International Boxing Association (IBA) vice-president following the body's board of directors meeting in New Delhi on Sunday. The Indian boxing official, who also serves as Spicejet's managing director, will be serving as the third vice president of the board.

The meeting was held at the national capital right after the completion of the Women's World Boxing Championships with Russia's Umar Kremlev leading the international boxing body amid pressure from the IOC. Ukraine's Volodymyr Prodyvus and Serbia's Abdulmutalim Abakarov are the other two vice presidents.

The news also comes on a day when International Olympic Committee remained its ban on Russian officials and symbols at international sporting events while allowing Russian individual athletes to compete under a neutral flag.

Kremlev has been at loggerhead with the IOC as well for a while now as the IBA management has been blamed of mismanagement and financial irregularities under the leadership of the Russian. The Women's World Boxing Championships was held in New Delhi against IOC's wishes with multiple nations opting out of the event as well.

Meanwhile, the BFI has also expressed interest in hosting the Men's World Championships and is in talks with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to host the Paris Olympic qualifiers.

"We will try to host all the big championships because that helps create a boxing culture in the country," Singh had told reporters on the final day of the Women's World Championships.

Several other topics were also discussed during the meeting ranging from the upcoming Men's World Championships in Tashkent to planning for future international events.

The Croatian city of Porec will host the IBA Youth World Boxing Championships next year, while the IBA Junior World Championships this year in Mexico will see the return of competition for 15-16 year age group.

Croatia has hosted some major continental-level boxing competitions, but the Youth World Championships will be the first in the country.

The IBA said in a statement on Tuesday that the two events will provide opportunities to young boxers to showcase their skills and "motivate the younger generation to take up (the) sport".

"Our meeting was a great opportunity for the IBA board of directors to come together and discuss important issues related to the future of boxing," said IBA president Umar Kremlev.

"We will continue doing our utmost for our athletes, and the revival of the Junior World Boxing Championships is a great testimony to that. I am looking forward to witnessing a great step forward for the grassroots sport."

With inputs from PTI