Indian woman boxer L Sarita Devi was today handed a one-year ban by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) for refusing to accept her bronze medal at the Asian Games but the punishment is unlikely to hurt her career too badly as she would be available to compete in the 2016 Olympic qualifiers.
AIBA also banned India's foreign boxing coach BI Fernandez for two years. However, cleared national coach GS Sandhu.
The ban period starts from the day of medal ceremony, that is October 1, 2014. It is a huge relief that all the fears of her being banned for life or her career being over have not come true. She is now available to compete in the 2016 Women's World Championships, which are also the Olympic qualifiers," Boxing India President Sandeep Jajodia told reporters.
"She is out of action till February at least because of the wrist injury and after that she can train like usual and make a comeback once the ban period is over," he added.
Also reprieved was national men's coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu, who had been provisionally suspended along with two other coaches, for not doing enough to restrain Sarita. AIBA's disciplinary committee found him not guilty of the charge.
On November 26, batting legend Sachin Tendulkar had discussed the way forward with Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and urged the entire country to support top woman boxer L Sarita Devi.
Devi lost in the semifinals of the women's lightweight (60kg) competition at Incheon, South Korea, in September, and tried to give her medal to her opponent at the presentation ceremony as a protest.
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