Bach: Boxing may lose Olympic spot
BOXING’S place at the 2020 Olympic Games could be in jeopardy, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said yesterday.
The International Olympic Committee executive board has expressed its disapproval with the governance of AIBA, amateur boxing’s world governing body.
Bach, speaking in Pyeongchang ahead of the Winter Olympics, read a statement featuring seven decisions, the last of which warned boxing could be omitted from the Olympics if AIBA’s governance did not improve.
“The IOC reserves the right to review the inclusion of boxing on the programme of the Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018 and the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020,” the statement read.
Bach said: “We are extremely worried about the governance in AIBA.”
The IOC executive board was “not satisfied” with a report prepared by AIBA on its governance, finance, refereeing and anti-doping issues.
As a result, an investigation has been opened, led by the IOC chief ethics and compliance officer.
All contracts with AIBA have been frozen, along with all financial payments to AIBA, which is expected to produce a further report by the end of April.
Bach was asked whether the IOC had any concerns over the judging at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and admitted it did.
“From the fact that refereeing is part of the decision we already took in December last year and we were requesting more information, you can conclude we’re still looking into this issue,” he added.