Top Fijian sports commentator Satish Narain said it was a sad day for boxing and Fijian sports. Photo: Facebook / Ubayd Haider
The Commission of Inquiry, set up to investigate the circumstances that led to the death of boxer Ubayd Haider last year, says its work has been delayed because the promoter of the event has not collaborated with them.
The inquiry team chairman Ed Wainiqolo said they had to seek ways to interview South Pacific Boxing promoter Freddy Chand, who is based in Australia.
Chand had acquired the services of lawyers in Fiji and Australia, and it was hard for the inquiry team members to get him to be interviewed.
They are hopeful they would be able to interview Chand soon, so that the final report can be handed to the country's Minister of Youth and Sports, Jese Saukuru.
Saukuru had ordered the investigation after the late Haider did not recover from the induced coma he was in, after he was knocked out in a boxing program in Nadi on 26 October 2024.
"He (Chand) has been hard to get an interview [with]," Wainiqolo said.
"He got lawyers involved and it has been difficult for us to get him to talk to us."
However, Wainiqolo confirmed that Chand has been in touch this week to try and get a resolution sorted.
"We have told him we only want to discuss and confirm the facts of the matter, in regard to the work we have been tasked to do," he said.
"We do not have any power to prosecute anyone and we are focused on finding out the facts so that we can inform those who will make the decisions."
Wainiqolo said they are also hoping to get a full medical report that would help provide medical evidence of what Haider suffered.
BCF chairman Adi Narayan also stated he has not heard anything about the inquiry report and was in the dark on what was happening.
In January, Wainiqolo said that while they had submitted the preliminary report to Saukuru, they were yet to finalise their work because of delays in speaking to Chand and securing an interview with the pathologist who carried out the surgery on the late Haider.
The final report was due to be presented by Saukuru in parliament on 5 February.
"We have completed the preliminary report, and we are actually on the verge of making the final report before the end of the week," Wainiqolo said.
"At the moment, the current preliminary report lacks the interview with the promoter together, with the confirmation on the pathologist's report of the surgeon that actually conducted the surgery after the night's event."
He said then that Chand had engaged a lawyer, and the team had been working on answering queries from the legal team before they could carry out the interview.
