Boxing would be left out of the Olympics, according to the president of the international association, for political reasons
According to the president of the International Boxing Association (IBA), Umar Kremlyev, the International Olympic Committee is persecuting the organization he runs because he is a Russian citizen.
Kremlov made his accusations against the IOC in a letter sent to the member states of the world association – signed by the Greek IBA general secretary, George Jerolimposz – after the body said on Thursday that it is considering the exclusion of boxing from the program of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“The last congress of the IBA once again indicated that the International Boxing Federation is not really interested in the sport of boxing and the situation of the boxers, it only cares about its own power”, the IOC indicated that the IBA contract was extended with its only main sponsor, the Russian company Gazprom, which largely controlled by the Russian government.
According to Kremlyev, the threat to remove boxing is part of the IOC’s “manipulated for geopolitical purposes, against the athletes and the sport” campaign, which is aimed at ousting the current leadership of the IBA, reports MTI.
The Russian sports leader said that the IBA is committed to cleaning up previous management problems and becoming a financially solid, independent and sustainable organization.
The boxing association was excluded from the Olympic competition in 2019 by the IOC due to management, financial and sports problems, so the boxing tournament of last year’s Tokyo Olympics was organized independently of the IBA. Due to the unchanged concerns, the IOC wants to organize the boxing competitions at the 2024 Paris Games under its own organization, and boxing was no longer included in the preliminary program of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Kremlinov said there would be a noisy response if boxing was removed from the Olympic program. He further fueled the controversy by declaring that he is looking forward to welcoming Russian and Belarusian boxers to the IBA competitions again. The World Federation has repealed the current ban on boxers from the two countries involved in the war in Ukraine, which was introduced on the recommendation of the IOC, so that Russian and Belarusian athletes can even participate in international competitions under their flag.