Boxing may be thrown out of Olympics: IOC
Boxing risks being thrown out of the Olympics unless the sport’s ruling body addresses “grave” concerns regarding its governance, the International Olympic Committee executive board said on Wednesday.
A strongly worded IOC statement warned that the International Boxing Association (AIBA) must tackle governance issues at its upcoming congress or it could face sanctions.
“The Executive Board of the IOC today expressed its ongoing extreme concern with the grave situation within the International Boxing Association (AIBA) and its current governance,” the board said in a statement. “These include the circumstances of the establishment of the election list and the misleading communication within the AIBA membership regarding the IOC’s position.”
The executive board, meeting in Buenos Aires where the Youth Olympic Games begin on Saturday, said the troubles in the AIBA affect “not just the reputation of AIBA and boxing but of sport in general”.
“Therefore, the IOC reiterates its clear position that if the governance issues are not properly addressed to the satisfaction of the IOC at the forthcoming AIBA Congress, the existence of boxing on the Olympic programme and even the recognition of AIBA as an International Federation recognised by the IOC are under threat.”
The IOC warned in July that boxing could still be axed from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics if the AIBA did not put its house in order. In February the IOC said they were worried by the nomination of Uzbek businessman Gafur Rakhimov for the AIBA’s interim presidency.
However Rakhimov, who has been linked to organized crime by the US Treasury Department, is now the only candidate for the presidency to be voted on at the AIBA congress in Moscow in November. In attempting to force change at the AIBA this year, the IOC had already suspended financial contributions
LOS ANGELES:
Boxing Federation of India president Ajay Singh is in fray to be Asia’s representative in the AIBA Executive Committee when the under-fire world body goes to polls where controversial interim President Gafur Rakhimov is set for re-election to the top post.
Singh’s nomination was approved, along with 10 others from the Asian bloc, by the International Boxing Association’s (AIBA) election committee chairman Jost Schmid on Wednesday in Lausanne.
The elections are scheduled to be held on November 3 during the AIBA’s annual conference in Moscow starting November 2.
Currently, India does not have representation in the AIBA EC. Veteran technical official Kishan Narsi was the last Indian to find a place in the EC but his tenure
from the IOC to the AIBA.
Even though the IOC believes sweeping change is needed at the AIBA, the governing body voiced support for boxers themselves.
“At the same time we would like to reassure the athletes that the IOC will -- as it has always ended after the BFI came into existence in 2015.
Singh will face competition from nominees of Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, Nepal, Qatar, Singapore, Thailand and the UAE.
Singh, also co-founder of low-cost airline Spicejet, is currently a member of the Asian Boxing Confederation’s EC.
The AIBA, which is in International Olympic Committee’s line of fire right now, is set to defy the IOC and elect Rakhimov as President after his was the lone nomination approved for the position by Schmid.
The IOC has warned that boxing’s future in Olympics would be in jeopardy if Rakhimov is re-elected.
The Uzbek has been linked to organised crime by the US Treasury Department and is fighting a legal battle to get his name cleared, insisting that he is innocent.
NEW DELHI:
done in such situations and is currently doing at the Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018 -- do its utmost to ensure that the athletes do not have to suffer under these circumstances and that we will protect their Olympic dream.”
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