KARACHI The chairman of the jury and technical delegate of ongoing Benazir international boxing tournament believed the failure of scoring system and absence of electronic scoreboards on the opening day were lapses on the part of Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF).

Herbert Saratchandra Embuldeniya, the chairman of the jury, said that not only the system did not work, but the organisers did not even have the clicker devices for scoring manually. As for the electronic scoreboards, he said, the organisers needed the splitters without which the electronic scoreboards cannot work.

'There were indeed few lapses on the part of Pakistan Boxing Federation who were the organisers. But we should give them a chance as they have a new team in place and when there is a change, you need some time and expertise to settle down and perform,' said Embuldeniya while talking to Dawn.com.

The Sri Lankan, who has served as a boxing technical official in three Olympics since 1992 Barcelona Games, said that organisers could be partly blamed for the fiasco as they were waiting for the Customs clearance of the software and the scoring system from Switzerland. It was because of late clearance, he said, the PBF did not get an opportunity to familiarise with the new scoring system.

When pointed out that PBF had already engaged a person Waheed Maqsood for operating the computer scoring system and even took him on offshore tours to get familiar with the system, the official said the new PBF set up needed time to settle. The argument does not seem to be convincing since PBF had ample time to prepare for the tournament for which they had been publicising for the past so many months.

Asked about the absence of electronic scoreboards that are pre-requisite for international events Embuldeniya initially defended PBF, saying they could not arranged for the splitters needed to operate the scoreboards because of holidays. But later he conceded the organisers were a bit slack when pointed out they had ample time to plan ahead.

'They (organisers) had some religious holidays because of which they couldn't buy the splitters. But I think it was bit of a lapse, yes I agree. They did not even have the clickers needed to score manually in case computer scoring system fails. Organisers must have a back-up plan for international events.

'But it looks as if the organisers do not believe in a back. Perhaps they thought they will not need a back up. They also wanted me to come on Dec 31, 2009, but I told them that I must be here at least on Dec 27 to see the arrangements,' said Embuldeniya who also agreed that the refereeing standard was not up to desired level.

The Sri Lankan, who has spent almost eight years in Pakistan teaching at a prestigious school in Karachi, said International Boxing Association (AIBA) president Ching-Kuo Wu wanted Pakistan to organize this event as the country had not staged an international event for three years.
Nieva Embuldeniya, the technical delegate, though agreed that there were 'few lapses' by PBF, she said Pakistan officials needed time since they had recently taken over.

'I agree there were some hiccups on the first day, but we cannot stop boxing because of that as this way only the boxers will be the losers. As far as the scoring system is concerned, the Swiss firm which sold the system should also be partly blamed as they did not give a component of the software,' said Nieva Embuldeniya, who is also the wife of Herbert. It is, however, surprising how the system started working without the component on the second day.

Nieva Embuldeniya, who is also the member of AIBA Executive Committee, however, conceded that missing of clickers and the splitters were few lapses but she defended the organisers saying it should be ignored as PBF hierarchy had just taken over.

When asked was apathy of the organisers acceptable, although the PBF had an experienced secretary in Akram Khan, she said 'yes I know there were a few things which should have been done properly, but we can't stop the boxing.'

'I will say they need time more time as they (PBF) have a young team. But if things are perfect at world championships and other big events, then we cannot expect perfection at this tournament,' she said while at the same time she admitted the ongoing tournament is a 'big event'.