David Nyika fighting at the Tokyo Olympics Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Boxing New Zealand is delighted the International Olympic Committee will no longer recognise the International Boxing Association.
This morning the IOC executive board recommended withdrawing recognition of the IBA over its failure to meet a set of reforms.
The IOC suspended the IBA in 2019 over governance, finance, refereeing and ethical issues and did not involve it in running the boxing events at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
It had also provisionally excluded the sport from the Los Angeles 2028 Games.
Boxing New Zealand President Steve Hartley has thank the IOC for its leadership in the matter.
"The IBA has failed the sport of Olympic Boxing and now there will be opportunity for the sport to be operated in a corruption free environment and in a competent manner.
The IBA's actions have led to the creation of a breakaway group called World Boxing recently with several countries, including New Zealand, having left the IBA to join the new organisation.
"National Federations need to recognise now that IBA has no Olympic future and support World Boxing in its endeavours to ensure boxing will continue to be an Olympic sport," Hartley said.
"World boxing is up and running with recognition in Swiss Law and is well placed to lead boxing into the Olympic future.
"The main focus for Boxing NZ at present is assisting our athletes to work towards qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics and continue Boxing New Zealand's success at previous Olympic events."
The IOC has also decided to have the sport as part of the Olympic Games programme at Los Angeles 2028, which was confirmed in a decision proposal.
David Nyika at the Tokyo Olympics Photo: PHOTOSPORT
It had also provisionally excluded the sport from the Los Angeles 2028 Games.
The IOC executive board's decision proposal, which was approved by the members, says that the Los Angeles 2028 boxing competition should not be run by the IBA, confirming the Olympic body's decision to include boxing in those Games in five year's time.
"As an additional consequence of the decision above, the IOC Executive Board recommends to the IOC Session to decide that the IBA should not organise the Olympic Games LA28 boxing tournament," the IOC's decision proposal said.
The decision now only needs the rubber-stamping of an extraordinary IOC session, to be held remotely and set for June 22.
The IOC has in the past removed from or included new sports in the Olympic Games programme, in order to refresh the Games and make the competitions more relevant to younger audiences.
However, stripping the recognition of a sports federation is extremely unusual.
The IBA hit back with a statement threatening "retaliatory measures" and decrying the move as "truly abhorrent and purely political".
It said its efforts had been largely ignored and not taken into consideration by the IOC.
"We accepted the process and the rules, but in the end, we were not assessed fairly. Now, we are left with no chance but to demand a fair assessment from a competent court," said IBA president Umar Kremlev.
The Russian said it was a "watershed moment" for all international federations and warned stripping the IBA's recognition could set a precedent for others.
Boxing is part of the Paris 2024 Olympics but the qualifications and the competition are being run by the IOC and not by the IBA, as was the case for the Tokyo 2021 Games.
-Reuters
