THE DOOR IS STILL OPEN
World Boxing called to action as the sport’s inclusion at 2028 Olympics remains uncertain, while Team GB explore their options for Paris
WORLD BOXING is still hoping to secure the sport’s future at the 2028 Olympics and beyond. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) last week reiterated that they want a new federation to run the sport after this summer’s Paris Games.
Kit Mcconnell, Sports Director of the IOC, confirmed the sport’s inclusion in the Los Angeles Games in 2028 is “on hold and not confirmed”.
Mcconnell added: “If there is no boxing body supported and driven by the national federations, we will not be in a position to include boxing in the Olympic programme.”
World Boxing said in a statement: “World Boxing will seek recognition [from the IOC]. Should it choose to engage with us, we are committed to working and collaborating with national federations and all stakeholders to develop a pathway that will preserve boxing’s place on the Olympic programme at Los Angeles 2028 and beyond.”
World Boxing was launched last April and elected former Dutch Federation head Boris van der Vorst as their first President in November.
World Boxing had 27 countries from all five continents represented at their inaugural congress in Frankfurt, where van der Vorst was elected, including USA
Boxing and Great Britain Boxing.
Meanwhile, GB coaches assessed their options at a tournament in Lithuania ahead of the final Olympic qualifier, in Bangkok in May.
Scottish southpaw Reese Lynch, 2022 Commonwealth Games champ, and Joe Tyers were both entered in the Algirdas Socikas tournament at 63.5kgs after Patris Mughalzai failed to qualify in Italy.
Lynch and Tyers both came from Lithuania with bronze medals. Lynch (Rob Roy) was returning to action after nine months out through injury and the 22-year-old started with a unanimous points win over Lithuanian teenager Aleksandr Petrovskij, before dropping a split points vote to Zhandos Kydyraliyev, a 29-year-old from Kazakhstan who is also a 6-0 (4) pro.
Kydyraliyev was the aggressor throughout the opener, but Lynch found his rhythm in the second and a case could be made for him winning both the second and third rounds.
The split decision went against him, and Tyers also made a semi-final exit on a split points vote, losing to John Paul Hale (Ireland). In his opening contest, Tyers (Billingham) was a unanimous points winner over Andriejus Lavrenovas (Lithuana).
GB sent Ramtin Musah at 80kgs. Musah will be hoping for a shot at Olympic qualification after Taylor Bevan (Wales) has twice missed out.
Musah (Beartown) went to Lithuania in confident mood, having won his last two tournaments, the Tammer tournament and World Boxing Cup: GB Open, and reached the final in Lithuania, where he was beaten by Tursynbay Kulakhmet, the Kazakh who won World Championship bronze in 2019 and is 6-1 (4) as a pro. Musah reached the final with points wins over Adamyan Hamlet (Armenia) and Maksym Kovan (Ukraine).
Flyweights Scott Richards (Wales) and Hamza Mehmood are looking to push Kiaran Macdonald. Macdonald, twice a points winner over Richards in the last 12 months, has twice been one win away from qualifying. Richards was beaten in the final in Lithuania by Baregham Harutyunyan. The Armenian had earlier in the tournament ended the hops of Clepson Dos Santos (Ireland) and Mehmood.
Isaac Okoh (Dagenham) was Britain’s only gold medallist in Lithuania. He went all the way at cruiserweight, outpointing
Pavlo Michkovskyi (Ukraine) and
Abzal Kuttybekov (Kazakhstan).