New Delhi, May 12 -- With the selection of Indian boxing teams for the Asian Games and CWG under scrutiny, the Sports Ministry on Tuesday issued a showcause notice to the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) highlighting issues related to "administrative, governance and selection process of athletes." The notice comes as the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has been flagging violations in BFI's selection policy with regard to the Sports Ministry's over-arching guidelines on athlete selection announced for National Sports Federations last year. As per the showcause, BFI's selection policy is "ambiguous," and the criteria governing entry through the second pathway to the National Coaching Camp have not been clearly defined. "The 2nd COAS Open Cup, from which selection of athletes for NCC has been done had restricted entry, which is in violation of guidelines of the Sports Ministry (vide circular dated 5.3.2025.)," as per the notice. "...the selection of athletes does not appear to have been carried out in fair and transparent manner..." The Ministry said "signed minutes of the selection committee have not been submitted by BFI." In the showcause, the Sports Ministry also said it has received "multiple grievances" concerning the overall functioning of the BFI. The Ministry has given BFI seven days to reply on the show cause notice. These relate to violations regarding constitution of "Grievance Redressal Committee/Appeal Committee for athletes, committee for selection of coaches, not appointing High Performance Director "despite repeated reminders," and lapses related to junior/youth development programme as required under revised norms of assistance to NSFs. It also said BFI is also not adhering to timelines for submission of proposals for international training and competition. The selection process has also been revised after a meeting between BFI and SAI officials. BFI secretary general Pramod Kumar and coaches Santiago Nieva and CA Kuttappa met SAI officials who told BFI the current selection process was inadequate and a revised process based on fairness and transparency should be drawn. Consequently, it was learnt that BFI has proposed that selection for the Asiad and CWG will be done afresh from May 13-15 through a new transparent evaluation system based on sparring performance. A five-judge bench comprising the head coach and four judges will evaluate the bouts. While earlier sparring bout results were part of the marking process, the new process will see scores being announced immediately in the ring. The scoring mechanism was one of the complaints raised by several boxers. This means that for the first time since former HPD Bernard Dunne's exit, the boxing team will be picked on the basis of trials....