Bach slams door on IBA regaining Olympic recognition

 The International Olympic Com­mittee (IOC) President, Thomas Bach, has ruled out any prospect of reinstating the International Boxing Association (IBA), but added World Boxing does not yet have “sufficient global representation.”

The IBA in June became the first governing body ever to be expelled from the Olympic Movement, following years of protracted concerns with its finances, gover­nance and the credibility of boxing competitions which came to a fore with huge judging scandals at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

It was initially suspended in 2019, leading to an IOC Task Force managing boxing at Tokyo 2020 and again at Paris 2024, but relations between the IOC and IBA, formerly AIBA, deteriorated under the latter’s Russian President, Umar Kremlev.

The latest row between the two organisations came at the delayed 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, where Kremlev claimed he had “received a number of complaints” about refereeing and judging.

Bach insisted the IOC is not open to any further discussion regarding the IBA’s involvement in Olympic boxing events.

“With the IBA there’s no on­going process, for us the case is closed,” he said prior to the IOC Session in Mumbai, as reported by the Indian Express.

“There will be no boxing with IBA in the Olympic programme.

“It’s done. Full stop. We gave them four years, they have not met conditions set by us. The way they’re expressing themselves now and behaving gives no hope that there will be an improvement.”

Bach claimed financial transpar­ency and governance at the IBA is “getting worse”, and judging and refereeing is “not up to the stan­dard that you would expect from an Olympic sport”.

The IBA, however, continues to claim it is the “home of boxing”, and has regularly sought to blame former AIBA President and IOC Executive Board member, CK Wu, for its issues.

Despite the concerns and leaving it off the initial programme, the IOC has assured that boxing will remain at the Olympic Games at Los Angeles 2028.

Bach acknowledged an IOC Task Force that managing boxing at the Olympics is not a long-term option for the sport, and work was ongoing to find an alternative. – Insidethegames.com

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