Boxing in jeopardy for Tokyo Olympics after IOC launches inquiry

The International Olympic Committee has halted preparations for boxing at the 2020 Games and launched a probe into the sport’s troubled governing body, warning that it could be stripped of the ability to organise the competition.

The IOC stressed that it still wanted boxing to go ahead at Tokyo 2020 but said its inquiry into the International Boxing Association [AIBA] “can lead to the withdrawal of [its] recognition”.

The IOC said it would make “all efforts to protect the athletes and ensure that a boxing tournament can take place at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 regardless of these measures”.

It added that it still had concerns over the “governance, ethics and financial management” of AIBA, which last month elected as president a controversial Uzbek businessman linked to organised crime by the US Treasury Department, a claim he denies.

IOC sports director Kit McConnell said qualifying for the 2020 boxing tournament had been put on hold, making it the only sport not to have its qualifiers approved.

“We are not going ahead, while the inquiry is underway, with any qualification system for the Olympic boxing competition in Tokyo,” said McConnell.

Relations between the IOC and AIBA took a dive at the 2016 Rio Olympics when 36 officials and referees were suspended amid allegations of bout fixing.

Ties were further battered earlier this month when AIBA elected Gafur Rakhimov as leader, who strenuously rejects the charges from the US Treasury Department.