Lovlina elected chair of IBA Athletes Committee, Shiva member

New Delhi, May 26 (IANS): India’s Tokyo Olympic s bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain has been elected as chairman and voting member on the Board of Directors for the IBA’s Athletes Committee, the International Boxing Association (IBA) has announced.

Indian male boxer Shiva Thapa has also been elected as a member of the IBA Athletes Committee, during the corresponding elections held during the 2021 IBA Men’s World Championships, the IBA announced on Wednesday.

Lovlina had received the highest number of votes during the election held at the 2022 Women’s World Championship and thus has been elected as chair of the board.

Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Singh Thakur has congratulated both Lovlina and Shiva, who are under the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS, and have accepted the roles. They are looking forward to representing India and other boxers at the Board of Directors meeting.

“Big congratulations @LovlinaBorgohai for being elected the Chair of the @IBA_Boxing Atheletes’ Committee and @shivathapa for being elected a Member of @IBA_Boxing Athletes’ Committee. It’s a big responsibility and I wish both of you the very best in delivering your duties,” Thakur wrote on Twitter.

Speaking of being elected as the Chair, Lovlina said, “I feel honoured to have been elected as the chair of IBA’s Athlete’s Committee, I expected to become a member, but never thought that I will also become the chair of the committee, this will help me promote Indian boxing and especially women boxing to other boxers of the world.”

“This is a huge opportunity for me to promote boxing and I plan to first discuss what all needs to be addressed in Boxing this year with other members and boxers of the world and then take those suggestions and grievances to the Board of Director’s committee,” Lovlina was quoted as saying in a release by the Sports Authority of India (SAI).