The country's senior boxers were left anxiously waiting for hours as chaos marred the opening day of the boxing National Championships, which was delayed by over four hours after the rings were not ready due to "logistical" issues here on Sunday. The prolonged delay forced organisers to reschedule 32 women's bouts for Tuesday morning. The tournament, meant to mark a landmark moment with the men's and women's national championships being staged together for the first time, was scheduled to begin at 2pm at the Gautam Buddha University. Instead, confusion and prolonged waiting defined the day. The competition rings, which are typically erected a day before the tournament, themselves were not ready. Three rings were scheduled to be in place, but only one was assembled by around 4pm and even that had to be reassembled due to a technical issue. In a bid to speed up the process, officials were seen working on building the ring themselves. The first of the 80 bouts -- 38 women's and 42 men's -- finally got underway at 6:30 pm with the men's competition. While, the women pugilists were left waiting even longer as there was still no word till 8pm.
