LAUSANNE: The International Olympic Committee Wednesday officially took over the boxing qualification and competition for next year’s Tokyo 2020 Olympics and suspended the International Boxing Association (AIBA) following a vote as it concluded its 134th Session here.
IOC voted unanimously to implement a recommendation of its executive board to oust troubled AIBA from the Tokyo 2020 Games over issues surrounding its finances and governance and suspend the body until the issues are resolved.
The IOC session approved the proposals made by the IOC executive board (EB) on 22 May that boxing would maintain its place on the sports programme of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, while recognition of AIBA by the IOC will be suspended and evaluated after Tokyo 2020.
Following the vote, the IOC EB’s recommendations on the Tokyo 2020 event programme and qualification system will come into force: a dedicated task force, led by IOC member and president of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) Morinari Watanabe, will ensure their delivery.
AIBA has been in turmoil over its finances and governance for years with the federation $16 million in debt and an ongoing bitter battle over the presidency that has split the body internally, Reuters reports.
Serbian IOC member Nenad Lalovic, who heads an IOC task force to look into the ties with AIBA, earlier Wednesday delivered a damning report to the IOC session, saying the association could reach a debt of as much as $29 million, according to the newswire.
He also said AIBA had failed to reform at the top of the organisation.
“It exposes the IOC and its commercial partners to unacceptable reputational, legal and financial risks,” Lalovic stated in his report.
