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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has rejected claims by the International Boxing Association (IBA) that an alternative qualification system for boxing at the 2024 Olympics in Paris has been “approved”.
The IOC previously suspended the IBA, formerly known as AIBA, from organizing boxing tournaments at the Olympics as well as qualifying events for the sport.
But this week the IBA issued a statement saying it “has taken it upon itself as the international boxing body to provide a clear process and pathway for athletes to qualify for Paris 2024” and claimed that this year’s IBA-run World Championships will be one of those events. qualifications.
Olympic boxers face defeat (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, Pool)
IOC, in a statement to Sky Sportssaid they have no reason to do this.
“Following the investigation and report by the IOC Inquiry Committee in 2019, the recognition of the International Boxing Association was suspended by the IOC. This suspension is still in place today,” said the IOC spokesperson.
“As announced by the IOC in June 2022, the IBA will not participate in the Paris 2024 boxing qualifiers and tournaments.
“The official boxing qualification system for Paris 2024 is the one approved by the IOC EB in September 2022, published and distributed to the NOCs. [national Olympic committees] and the national boxing federation on December 6, 2022.”
This IOC qualification system remains in place. For European countries, the first qualifier is the European Olympics in June, followed by two world events next year, which the IBA does not run.
The break-up represents a worsening of relations between the IBA and the IOC, with the latter suspending the former over concerns about the organization’s governance, including the refereeing and judicial process, and the IBA’s “financial dependence” on the Russian state. energy giant Gazprom.
The IOC is considering the future of boxing at the Olympics and is calling for reform
While the IOC Task Force will put boxing in next year’s Olympics, the sport’s future at the Olympics after that remains in doubt. The IOC was excluded from the Olympic program for the 2028 Olympics due to ongoing governance issues.
The latest development comes as several countries, including Great Britain, Ireland and the United States, boycotted the IBA World Championships in May due to the presence of Russian and Belarusian athletes despite the invasion of Ukraine, as well as the crisis facing the Olympic Games. season.
The IBA responded to the boycott by saying the athletes would be “victims of the political game” and saying boxers could register directly with them to avoid the national federation’s stipulation if they wanted.
In its statement, the IBA said: “To exclude the world champion from the upcoming Women’s and Men’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi, India and Tashkent, Uzbekistan from qualifying for Paris 2024 is unacceptable and against the principles of sport and boxing.”
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