Ashish Shelar wants to set BFI house in order

Ashish Shelar

Former Maharashtra sports minister Ashish Shelar, 48, who is confident of clinching the president's post in the Boxing Federation of India's (BFI) upcoming elections, bemoaned the fact that the federation doesn't even have an office.

"For a sport which has brought so much glory to the country, our [BFI] administrative state is such that we don't even have an office of our own, even on rent," Shelar said.

Elections will be in Gurugram on February 3. "We want to strengthen our boxers as well as each state association. Identifying talent and grooming them from the grass root level will be our priority," added Shelar. He shared the dais at a press conference on Saturday with other candidates - Dr CB Raje (Secretary General),
Anil Kumar Mishra (Treasurer) and Rajesh Desai (Joint Secretary).

Shelar, who is a BJP MLA from Bandra (West) constituency was Mumbai Cricket Association's president from 2017 to 2019 and Mumbai District Football Association's chairman from 2011 to 2013. He is challenged by BFI's incumbent president Ajay Singh.