MOSCOW, May 15. /TASS/. Russian boxers are continuing to receive invitations to compete in the European qualifying tournaments for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in France, Eduard Kravtsov, chairman of the Coaching Council of the Russian Boxing Federation (RBF), told TASS on Monday.
"Invitations keep coming," the RBF official stated. "Reportedly, [Albert] Batyrgaziyev has received an invitation to fight in the under-57 kg weight category and [Vsevolod] Shumakov received an invitation as well."
"I believe that an invitation was also extended to [2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Muslim] Gadzhimagomedov. The invitations going out are for the qualifiers [in Europe]," Kravtsov clarified, adding that the national team was still waiting for the green light to take part in the 2023 Asian Games.
However, the sports official noted that it would be much harder for Russian boxers to qualify for the upcoming Olympics via the Asian Games, when compared to qualifiers in Europe, since the level of competition in Asia is much higher.
The 2023 Asian Games are scheduled to be held in Hangzhou, China, from September 23 to October 8 this year. The event was initially scheduled to be held last year at the same venue, but was rescheduled to a later date due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential for it to spread among people traveling to mainland China.
Ban on Russian boxers from international tournaments
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations in February 2022 to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from participating in all continental and global tournaments.
In early March 2022, the International Boxing Association (IBA) barred boxers representing Russia from participating in international sports events. However, on October 5, 2022, the IBA Board of Directors reversed the ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes competing in international competitions.
After Tokyo’s turn hosting the Olympic flame at the 2020 Summer Games, it will travel next to Paris for the Summer Games in 2024, and then to Los Angeles in 2028. In 2021, at the 138th IOC session in Tokyo, Brisbane, Australia, was selected to host the 2032 Summer Olympic Games.
At its session on January 25, 2023, the IOC Executive Board put forward a proposal to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments but only under certain conditions.
Specifically, athletes from the two countries should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status. Russia and Belarus were also banned from participating in international team events.
Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) President Stanislav Pozdnyakov called these recommendations absolutely unacceptable as they would lead to a split in Russian sports. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov slammed the IOC’s recommendations as discriminatory.