NEXT STEPS FOR OLYMPIC BOXING

World governing body AIBA has a plan, writes

OLYMPIC boxing is in a precarious position. The International Olympic Committee has threatened the sport with expulsion from the Olympic Games, as soon as Tokyo 2020, unless the sport’s myriad issues are addressed effectively.

Well, AIBA does have a plan, a New Foundation Plan. It makes some statements of intent for the sport’s governing body. After the debacle of Rio 2016 where controversial

decisions overshadowed the boxers’ performances and then much publicised financial concerns, AIBA has said that they’ve established a confidential reporting mechanism for whistleblowers and that the AIBA Executive Committee will be able to ratify the appointment and dismissal decisions of the president, suspend the president and propose his removal to the AIBA Congress.

In the near term, they are promising to bring in a new evaluation system for referees and judges. More broadly they want to boost the number of officials, improve their performance level and bring back a competition protest mechanism. Longer term, they will look into an independent body to select and manage the referees and judges and maybe even invest in automating refereeing and judging processes.

As for anti-doping, AIBA have signed up to the International Testing Agency. Benjamin Cohen, Director General of the ITA, said, “Ensuring clean competitions is central to the integrity and reputation of any sport. AIBA’S proactive approach is completely consistent with the ITA’S position as an independent and trusted partner in the protection of clean sport. By entrusting the full range of its anti-doping programme to us at the ITA, we hope in turn that we can enable AIBA to focus fully on its core mission of developing boxing.”