Six Boxers, Officials Test Positive at Olympic Qualifier in London
Six members of boxing teams who attended an Olympic qualifying event in London in March are said to have contracted Covid-19.
The Turkish Boxing Federation said two fighters and a coach tested positive since returning from the event.
Marko Marovic of the Croatian Boxing Federation also claims a fighter and two of its coaches have the disease.
He told BBC Sport: “Our epidemiologist says they were most probably infected during (the) Tokyo 2020 qualifier.”
Marovic, secretary general of the Croatian Boxing Federation, added: “Our first concern is the health of our boxing family. We are still praying that everything ends well and there will be no other positive tests.”
He said both Croatian coaches and the fighter were “stable” and in quarantine.
Earlier, organisers of the Road to Tokyo competition at the Copper Box - including an International Olympic Committee (IOC) Boxing
Task Force - were branded “irresponsible” by the Turkish Boxing Federation after three of its team tested positive.
The event was called off after three days because of the pandemic.
Turkish Boxing Federation president Eyup Gozgec told BBC Sport that organisers failed to take the outbreak seriously enough and “didn’t care”.
He added: “I just want to know, when the whole world was on high alert, why they hosted this event?
“We didn’t see any hygienic standards there. There were no preventative measures.”
The IOC said its Task Force was “not aware of any link between the competition and the infection”.
It added that at the time of the competition there were no governmental restrictions in place, but expressed its sympathy for the affected athletes.
The local organising committee also said they had applied extra precautions and that no teams had reported symptoms at the event.
In a scathing letter sent to the board members of the European Boxing Confederation (EUBC), and seen by the BBC, Gozgec wrote: “Two of our athletes (and a coach) have tested positive for (Covid-19) after returning to Turkey from London. All of them are in treatment now and thankfully are in good condition.
“This is the disastrous result of the irresponsibility of the IOC Boxing Task Force.”
Gozgec says he now intends to write to all European boxing associations asking if any of their teams at the event have since tested positive.
“The organisers were irresponsible, and I think they didn’t realise the severity of the issue so they just didn’t care,” he said.
“They just didn’t take this outbreak seriously and they didn’t care about it. They did no tests for us. They just told us to go. They dropped us at the airport and that was it.”
He added: “They knew they were going to have to cancel - why go with it? The health of our athletes and staff is our priority.”
It is not clear whether the fighters and coach contracted the virus in London or once they returned to Turkey.
Organised by the IOC’s Boxing Task Force (BTF) following the suspension of international federation the AIBA last year, the European qualifying event started on 14 March with full crowds at the Copper Box, the day after major sporting events including all professional football in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland had been suspended.
After the first two days of the event, the BTF decided that “due to the changing situation with coronavirus and concerns for public, athlete and volunteer welfare”, the event would take place “behind closed doors”.
However, following the third day of competition, the event was suspended.