Tokyo: As the Thailand Boxing Association (TBA) seeks redemption after an embarrassing Rio 2016 campaign, the sport is fighting to restore its reputation.
Four Thai fighters will attempt to bury the ghosts of 2016 Games where the national boxing team returned home empty-handed.
The quartet are Chatchai-decha Butdee (men's 57kg), Juthamas Chitrapong (women's 51kg), Sudaporn Seesondee (women's 60kg) and Baison Maneekon (women's 69kg).
Thitisan Panmod, probably Thailand's best prospect in boxing, was forced to pull out of the Games due to a knee injury.
Chatchai-decha, formerly Chatchai, and Sudaporn are now seen as the country's best bets in boxing.
In his third Games, Chatchai-decha, 36, will try to end his career with an Olympic medal.
The Sa Kaeo native begins his Tokyo campaign against Peter McGrail of Great Britain in the round of 32 today.
Also in action today is Baison, 18, who will make her Olympic debut against Saadat Dalgatova of the Russian Olympic Committee.
With only 18 fighters in the women's welterweight division, Baison could spring a surprise.
Thailand coach Kamanit Nareerak said his boxers are ready for the Games.
"They are more than 100 percent ready for their fights," he said.
"They are raring to go and win medals to make Thais happy during the Covid-19 crisis."
Meanwhile, boxing's credibility is on the line at the Tokyo Olympics after a series of scandals saw its governing body given the boot and judging controversies marred the Rio 2016 Games.
Boxing first featured at the ancient Olympics and later launched the careers of legends such as Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and Floyd Mayweather, and modern-day champions including Anthony Joshua and Gennady Golovkin.
But in recent years it has been in turmoil and International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach warned in 2018 that boxing could be kicked out of Tokyo.
The IOC subsequently stripped the International Boxing Association (Aiba) of the right to run the event in the Japanese capital after an investigation into alleged serious mismanagement at boxing's badly tainted governing body. A special task force has taken charge instead.
Judging decisions will be closely watched when the competition begins today in the Japanese capital after the chaos of Rio, which saw 36 officials and referees suspended over allegations of fixing bouts. "The task force has done as much as possible to protect the integrity of the sport and to ensure the athletes have a fair field of play to compete in," its chairman Morinari Watanabe said yesterday.
He hopes that these Games "will be a turning point for the sport".
Boxing scoring has always aroused controversy at the Olympics, and in Rio it burst to the fore once more when judges surprisingly condemned Irish amateur world champion Michael Conlan to defeat to Russia's badly bloodied Vladimir Nikitin.
It was not the only questionable decision in Rio, where the old punch-counting method of scoring bouts was replaced with judges. In Tokyo, to ensure more transparency, judges' scoring will be shown after each round instead of just at the end of the fight.
David Nyika, a New Zealand heavyweight, said that he now has more confidence in the judging. "It's one of those things that we should not have to worry about as athletes," he said.
As part of moves to make Olympic boxing more similar to the professional fight game, at Rio pros were allowed to compete for the first time. Only three actually did and they failed to shine.
Perennial powerhouses Uzbekistan and Cuba topped the medals table in the sport, followed by France.
Britain were also up there with three medals, one of them gold, and the country has big expectations to do even better this time.
Among the best-known names fighting in Tokyo is Mary Kom, India's 38-year-old boxing queen who is making a last tilt at Games gold.
Kom won bronze at London 2012, but is desperate to sign off with gold. bangkok post/afp