THE 2021 EDITION OF Men's World Boxing Championship will not take place in India, but not as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
India were supposed to host this prestigious next year, but the Boxing Federation of India could not fulfill a basic requirement of paying the host fee on time. As a result, the AIBA chose to grand the hosting rights to Serbia instead.
India had previously hosted the women's edition of the championship twice; in 2006 and 2018. But this was the first time the men's competition was going to be held in the country.
As a result of their failure to fulfill the hosting agreement, BFI have also been fined $500 as a cancellation penalty.
India's male pugilists are yet to win a gold mendal in this championship which has been held annually since 1974, except for the Olympic years. The country's current medal tally stands at 1 silver and 5 bronzes. The female boxers, however, have been more successful, bagging 9 golds, 8 silvers and 19 bronze medals, sitting just below Russia and China in the medal tally.