The Czech Boxing Association (CBA) announced this Wednesday that their country will boycott the XXII World Amateur Boxing Championship which will be held in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) next May because, de facto, it will be a propaganda platform for Russia.
The World Cup “will serve as Russian propaganda, with the use of flags, songs of Russia and Belarusdespite the (opposite) position of the International Olympic Committee (IOC),” CBA president Marek Simak told EFE.
In this way, the Czechs joined the Americans, Irish and Britishwho also won’t attend that boxing event in Tashkent, despite the sweet prize money it offers.
The International Boxing Association (IBA), headed by Russian Umar Kremlev, is open to all participants in the World Cup, including Russians and Belarusians, who do so under their flag.
Simak explained that the rules of the international body that promotes Olympism contradict that, but “the current leadership of the IBA does not want to contact the IOC.”
This Paris-based body has also vetoed in the past the participation of Russians in international events with their anthem and flag, due to doping scandals, and is now studying what will happen in Paris Games, after 35 countries, including the Czech Republic, asked Russia to veto it for violating international law after invading Ukraine.
According to Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky, “70 percent of Russian athletes are soldiers”Therefore, it is “unacceptable that these people in the current situation participate in the Olympic Games”.
The IOC has already dispossessed the World Boxing Championship in 2019organized by the Kremlin association, of its qualification for the Olympic Games, a punishment to the IBA for the alleged lack of transparency in funding and questionable decisions during the Olympic events.
The IBA and the IOC maintain a tense relationship, something that could lead, according to the top Czech boxing official, to the elimination of this sport as an Olympic sport at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles (USA).
“This would be a serious conflict for the entire sport, as the loss of Olympic status would lead to the loss of a lot of financial support.added Simak.
Source: La Verdad
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