The International Boxing Association (IBA) challenged the IOC on Monday’s publication of its own classification system for the Paris 2024 Games -which will also include the Russians and Belarusians-, a competition that the Olympic body eliminated by suspending the IBA since 2019 due to its many irregularities.
“With less than 18 months before Paris 2024 and in the face of numerous delays by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in announcing a clear qualification process for Paris 2024, The IBA has taken on the role of boxing’s international governing body tasked with establishing the pathway through which its athletes will qualify for Paris 2024“, announced in a statement the Association headed by Russian Umar Kremlev.
“This is a necessary step to protect our athletes because the IOC’s proposed qualification process is neither acceptable nor fair. Excluding the women’s and men’s boxing world championships in New Delhi and Tashkent from the Paris 2024 qualification is unacceptable and against the principles of sport and boxing,” IBA added.
The IOC agreed in June 2022 that the Paris 2024 boxing qualifying competitions “will not take place under the authority of the International Association”after the IBA’s “ongoing and deeply worrying problems with its governance and its arbitration system and judges”.
In September, the IOC unveiled a new system based on direct qualification through regional multi-sport games: the Pan American Games in Santiago, the European Games in Krakow, the Pacific Games in Honiara and the Asian Games in Hanfgzhou, all in 2023.
After the continental phase of slot allocation, two world ranking tournaments will be held in 2024.
IBA then reacted by saying that “these final changes” will have a “significant impact and directly to the agreed competition forecast for 2022/23, not only for the IBA, but also for the continental confederations.
He also pointed out that it is not clear how the system will be implemented, nor its exact calendar or the location of the qualifying tournaments in Africa and those on a global scale.
By assuming the power to establish an Olympic qualification system, IBA is trying to restore prominence to its own world championships (the two finalists in each category will qualify) and their world rankings.
In addition, the World Cups will be open to all athletes, including Russians and Belarusians.“to give everyone the right to compete without falling prey to the political games of some national federation.”
Boxing is included in the program for the Paris Games, but not yet in Los Angeles 2028, waiting for IBA to solve its problems.
Source: La Verdad
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