No one is above sport, says world boxing president

NEW DELHI: Newly elected world boxing federation president Gafur Rakhimov, who is here for the women’s boxing world championships, said no one is bigger than the sport and boxing will not be removed from the Olympics. “There is nothing to worry. This (mismanagement in AIBA) has been happening since many years and we are only correcting the decisions. It has nothing to do with one person and that person’s interest will never be above boxing,” he said on Wednesday.

He said AIBA has already submitted a report to the IOC. “Our executive director Tom Virgets has submitted the report to IOC which covers the areas of concern. This includes anti-doping, refereeing, integrity, governance and financial aspects. This report also combines information from Youth Olympic Games about the referring that was welcomed by the IOC. AIBA is now 100 per cent compliant with antidoping and looks forward to full cooperation with the IOC.”

Meanwhile, MC Mary Kom and L Sarita Devi were among seven Indian boxers, who got first round byes.