MOSCOW, October 11. /TASS/. President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach has ruled out any chance of the International Boxing Association (IBA) being reinstated to the Olympic movement, InsideTheGames sports web portal reported on Wednesday.
Last June, the IOC ruled at its session to strip the IBA of its Olympic membership stating that the boxing federation "failed to fulfil the conditions set by the IOC in its decision communicated to the IBA on 9 December 2021 - which was not challenged by the IBA - for lifting the suspension of the IBA’s recognition."
"With the IBA there’s no ongoing process, for us the case is closed," InsideTheGames quoted IOC chief Bach as saying. "There will be no boxing with IBA in the Olympic program. It’s done. Full stop."
"We gave them four years, they have not met conditions set by us," Bach stated. "The way they’re expressing themselves now and they’re behaving gives no hope that there will be an improvement."
The IBA’s financial and administrative transparency are "getting worse," Bach continued, adding that the level of refereeing at IBA-sanctioned events was "not up to the standard that you would expect from an Olympic sport."
In 2019, the IOC announced a decision to temporarily revoke the IBA's recognition status with the organization citing the financial and management crisis within the IBA as the reason. The IOC demanded the international boxing federation make reforms and suspended it from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Russia’s Umar Kremlev took the reins of the IBA in late 2020 and the international boxing federation took a stance against the IOC's recommendations to strip athletes representing Russia and Belarus of their national identity. Boxers from both countries compete in IBA-sponsored events without any international restrictions.
The boxing federations of the United States, Great Britain, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and the Philippines canceled their membership in protest and formed a new international organization, World Boxing.
The international sports organization regulating amateur (Olympic-style) boxing, World Boxing, was founded in April in response to the IBA’s strained relationship with the IOC.
Commenting on the status of World Boxing, Bach said it still had some work to do if it wants to be recognized by the IOC.
"It’s too early," the IOC chief said, speaking about World Boxing’s membership with the world’s governing Olympic body. "I don’t know if they even have 20 Member Federations with them. At the moment, they don’t have sufficient global representation."
"Once they’re making progress there, we’re ready to look into other issues like governance is in order, elections are happening democratically etc… At the moment it’s up to them to organize themselves," the IOC President Bach added.