IBF set for SGM to plan breakthrough in suspension logjam

New Delhi: In a desperate bid to get its international suspension lifted in the next couple of months, the Indian Boxing Federation is planning to call a Special General Meeting to work out the date for an AGM where the schedule for a fresh election would be finalised.

Some zonal heads of the IBF, which was suspended in December 2012 owing to "possible manipulation" in elections, met Secretary General Rajesh Bhandari in an "informal conclave" to discuss the possibility of an SGM in the next few days. "The SGM will be called if 3/4th of the state associations and units agree to be present. At that meeting, we will discuss the possibility of having an ad-hoc committee to conduct the AGM," said the West Bengal Association Secretary Asit Banerjee, who has been authorised to call the SGM. Banerjee has been authorised to call the meeting as Bhandari is not recognised by the International Boxing Association (AIBA). The SGM would be the first step towards the IBF`s rehabilitation in AIBA, which has demanded that the Indian body hold a fresh election. "We should have the elections by the end of this financial year, which means by March," said Banerjee. Bhandari, on his part, said that everything will be done according to the IBF constitution, which has been amended suitably to bring it in consonance with the AIBA Statute. "Yes, an SGM will be called where the house will discuss the way forward. We are all for holding a fresh election, we have never opposed it. The dates for the SGM would be finalised in the next 2-3 days," said Bhandari. "But the constitutional amendments suggested by AIBA can be adopted only in an AGM," he added. The AGM is most likely to be held after the February 9 IOA election as the AIBA has made it clear that it would seek its intervention to end the logjam due to differences within the IBF. "There is consensus on having an SGM because a way forward has to be charted before the IOA elections. After the IOA elections, it would be just a matter of procedure which the AIBA would oversee," said another official.