Trials and tribulations: Stars unsure of boxing body's move

Vijendra SinghIts a departure from convention and one that has triggered quite a tremor For the first time ever an Indian boxing team has been picked without formal trials a convention wellestablished and followed all across the world During my amateur days I dont recall a single instance of trials not taking place Its a wellestablished system that is followed all across the world Trials are always good to assess who is in best shape immediately before an event Vijender Singh Indias first and only male boxer to have won an Olympic medal told PTIThe team in question is the one picked for next months Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and the criteria has been a points system put in place last year before the mens National Championships Looking at the entire process I wonder what would I have done before the 2006 Commonwealth Games I had the likes of Mohammed Ali Qamar and Balbir Singh ahead of me and had it not been for trials I would have never been able to make the CWG squad recalls Jitender Kumar who claimed a bronze at the 2006 CWG in Melbourne Jitender the then National bronzemedallist had beaten 2002 CWG goldwinner Mohammed Ali Qamar and Balbir the reigning world youth champion in the trials to make the cut If a similar system was in place then I would have never made any breakthrough I wonder how things work said the former Olympic quarterfinalist who now plies his trade in the professional circuitThe boxers left out of CWG squad include the likes of Shiva Thapa the first Indian to clinch three backtoback Asian medals and among a select group of four Indians to have won a World Championship medal Thapas points tally was lower than Manish Kaushik who upstaged him at the Nationals and the India Open Also missing is 2014 CWG silvermedallist Mandeep Jangra despite logging more points than the man who has been preferred over him Vikas KrishanTo Vikas credit he claimed a gold and the best boxer trophy at the only event he competed in after the world championships last August I am not comfortable with this idea of not having trials Lets see how things work out for us after this said VijenderThen there is the case of Gaurav Bidhuri the lone Indian to claim a medal at the world championship last year He is out of contention after a longstanding back injury forced him out of action after the world championships The point to ponder here is that Bidhuri had not even qualified for the World Championship and made it only on the back of a lastminute wildcard a testament to how much of a factor luck can be in sport Only performance in Gold Coast will tell whether the BFI stands vindicatedCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever