MOSCOW, December 15. /TASS/. Umar Kremlev, who was elected last week as the president of the Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA), told TASS on Tuesday that he had decided against receiving a salary in his new post.
"I have made a decision against receiving a salary in the interests of all athletes and AIBA’s reinstatement," Kremlev said in an interview with TASS. "I will do my work without getting paid."
Secretary General of Russia’s Boxing Federation Kremlev was elected president of the Amateur International Boxing Association at AIBA’s Congress meeting over the past weekend.
Ramie Al-Masri of Germany, Anas Al Otaiba of the United Arab Emirates, Suleyman Mikayilov of Azerbaijan, Domingo Solano of the Dominican Republic, Boris van der Vorst of the Netherlands and Interim AIBA President Mohamed Moustahsane of Morocco had run for AIBA president. Later, Solano and al-Masri pulled out of the election.
The Russian presidential candidate secured 57.33% of the vote, followed by van der Vorst with 30% of the vote and Moustahsane with 12.67%. Kremlev, 38, was elected the secretary general of the Russian Boxing Federation in 2017. He is also first vice president of the European Boxing Confederation (EUBC).
AIBA’s current stance with IOC
In late November 2018, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) halted all planning for the 2020 Olympic boxing competitions in Tokyo. The decision followed an investigation into activities of the Amateur International Boxing Association.
The IOC claimed at that time that the organization’s financial operations, management and ethics raised suspicions. The IOC also voiced its concern over Gafur Rakhimov’s appointment to the post of the president of AIBA, claiming the boxing official from Uzbekistan had been targeted by the US Treasury Department and was suspected of connections with an international criminal network.
The AIBA Executive Committee announced on March 23, 2019 its decision to appoint Mohamed Moustahsane of Morocco to the post of the AIBA Interim President in place of Rakhimov until the new president is elected.
In June 2019, the IOC ruled at its 134th session in Lausanne to strip the world’s governing boxing body AIBA of its Olympic status, but also made a decision to keep the sport of boxing on the program of the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.