Any call on the future of Asian Boxing Championships to be taken after lockdown: BFI

India last hosted the men's Asian meet back in 1980 in Mumbai, while it conducted the women's event in 2003 in Hisar. The tournament became a combined event for men and women last year.

New Delhi: The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) has stated that any call on the future of the Asian Boxing Championships will be taken only when the lockdown gets over.

"Asian boxing championship bid is with us for November-December but due to this coronavirus at this stage, things are under discussion. We will take a call after getting out of this situation (lockdown)," the BFI told a news agency.

Mary Kom

India last hosted the men's Asian meet back in 1980 in Mumbai, while it conducted the women's event in 2003 in Hisar. The tournament became a combined event for men and women last year.

"We were awarded the hosting rights in February after a meeting of the Asian Boxing Confederation. The tournament will be held in November-December and the host city will be finalised after things normalise," Boxing Federation of India's (BFI) Executive Director R K Sacheti told to another Indian news agency.

Amit Panghal

The event is usually a biennial competition but has been held in consecutive years in the past.

India is currently under a nationwide lockdown to fight against the spread of coronavirus. The country is reportedly scheduled to go for another two-week extension of the lockdown.

With 796 fresh cases of coronavirus reported in the last 24 hours, the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country has reached 9,152 including 308 deaths, said Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, on Monday.

As many as 857 people have recovered from the disease so far, said Aggarwal during the daily media briefing on the coronavirus. "In one day, 141 people have recovered," he added.