BFI elections postponed due to safety concerns amid Covid-19 pandemic

The elections were to be held at the federation's annual general meeting.

The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) has decided to postpone its upcoming election due to safety concerns amid coronavirus pandemic.

"The decision to postpone the elections was taken after a majority of member state associations wrote to Returning Officer, Justice Rajesh Tandon requesting postponement of the elections due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic," BFI said in a statement.

"A large number of voting members of BFI are above 60 years and are in the high-risk category. Subsequently, the Returning Officer has written to BFI recommending that elections be deferred."

The elections were scheduled to take place on December 18 during BFI's Annual General Meeting in Gurugram. 23 state associations out of 32, wrote requesting postponement of elections. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has also given its approval for the postponement.

BFI claimed that a senior sports administrator of another national sports federation, who had come to Delhi to participate in the federation electoral process, had contracted the deadly virus and later died.

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After the postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had also made it clear that it will adopt a flexible approach to the election cycles of National Olympic Committees (NOC) so that member country's athlete preparations are not hampered.