THE shock exclusion from the Commonwealth Games of Wales medal hope Fred Evans remains a mystery as Glasgow 2014 chiefs refused to shed any more light on the situation.

The Olympic silver medal-winning boxer, who previously trained at St Joseph’s gym in Newport, was refused accreditation to compete in the 69kg category in Glasgow on Tuesday with the issue believed to be his conviction for assault in April this year.

In a media briefing less than 24 hours after the news broke, Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive Mike Hooper was asked to expand on the reasons why Evans was excluded.

But it still remains unclear whether the 23-year-old’s conviction has anything to do with the matter, and if it does why the precedent of English boxers who have fallen foul of the law but been allowed to compete at Delhi 2010 and London 2012 was not taken into account.

Hooper said: “First of all the CGF is not directly involved in undertaking background and security checks.

“All of us in this room who received our accreditation cards were subjected to these security checks and if we failed we would not be given an accreditation card, myself included.

“The reality is for all major events the Home Office and the police undertake the background checks.

“It is made very clear to all those Commonwealth Games Associations, including Wales, that should anyone fail a background check they would not gain accreditation.

“I don't know the details of this particular case but that is the policy and our board took the decision to respect and abide by the authorities here as it did in Melbourne in 2006 and Delhi in 2010.”

The Argus has attempted to contact Evans but he has so far not been available for comment.

And he remains the only person who knows exactly why he was not allowed to compete, according to Team Wales chief Brian Davies.

“Sadly as the team organisers we can only assume what the reason is,” said Davies.

“It can only be shared with the individual who can apply for that information, which Fred did.

“Fred knows the reason and if he wants to share it with anyone he can.

“At the moment we can only assume it is his conviction.”

English boxer Thomas Stalker won gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi having admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm only five months earlier.