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International Boxing Association hit hard by IOC for failure to complete reforms on governance

IOC's extraordinary session rubber-stamped an executive board recommendation by 69 votes to one to withdraw the IBA's recognition

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Sunny Edwards in action against Andres Campos.

By Reuters

Published: Thu 22 Jun 2023, 7:50 PM

The International Boxing Association's (IBA) recognition as the global body for the sport was stripped on Thursday by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) due to its failure to complete reforms on governance, finance and ethical issues

The IOC's extraordinary session, held online on Thursday, rubber-stamped an executive board recommendation by 69 votes to one to withdraw the IBA's recognition.

The IBA had called the recommendation "truly abhorrent and purely political" and tried to have it blocked through an urgent appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, sports highest court, which rejected the appeal on Tuesday.

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The IOC had previously suspended the IBA in 2019 over governance, finance, refereeing and ethical issues and did not involve it in running the boxing events at the Tokyo Olympics.

Boxing is part of the Paris 2024 Olympics but the qualification bouts and the competition are being run by the IOC and not the IBA, as was the case at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

Other issues such as a sponsorship deal with Russian energy giant Gazprom that was terminated in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine further complicated the position of the IBA, which is led by Russian businessman Umar Kremlev.

While the IOC regularly removes or adds sports to the Olympic Games programme to make them more attractive to younger audiences, it is extremely rare for the Olympic body to strip an international sports federation's recognition.

The IBA's actions have led to the creation of a breakaway group called World Boxing and several countries have left the IBA to join the new organisation.

"This is a hugely significant moment for the sport," World Boxing said in a statement.

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"All national boxing federations now have a critically important decision to make if they want boxers from their country to have the opportunity to compete at the Olympic Games at Los Angeles and beyond," it said.

"We urge every national federation ... to join and support World Boxing in its efforts to ensure boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement."

Reuters

Published: Thu 22 Jun 2023, 7:50 PM

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