IOC Strips International Boxing Association Of Official Recognition

The decisive action by the IOC comes after the IBA had failed to complete reforms on governance, finance as well as ethical concerns.

International Olympic Committee executive (IOC) President Thomas Bach (R) speaks with Vice-president Juan Antonio Samaranch jr. in Lausanne on June 22, 2023, prior to an extraordinary hybrid IOC Session to vote to withdraw its recognition of the International Boxing Association (IBA) over its failure to address governance, finance and corruption concerns.

Source : Getty Images

The International Boxing Association's (IBA) recognition as the world governing body for the sport was stripped on Thursday by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It is being reported that the IOC's session, which was held online on Thursday, saw 69 votes go in favour of IBA's recognition being taken away. Only one vote was casted against it.

The decisive action by the IOC comes after the IBA had failed to complete reforms on governance, finance as well as ethical concerns. The IBA had called the IOC board's recommendation "truly abhorrent and purely political" and tried to have it blocked through an urgent appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, sports highest court, which rejected the appeal on Tuesday. The International Boxing Association (IBA) vehemently opposed the IOC board's recommendation, considering it both morally reprehensible and politically motivated. In an attempt to block the recommendation, the IBA urgently appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the highest judicial body in sports. However, their appeal was rejected on Tuesday.

IOC Media's Twitter handle also posted out a Tweet declaring the decision. "The #IOCSession, meeting remotely, has withdrawn the recognition of International Boxing Association (IBA), upon the recommendation of the IOC Executive Board (EB)," the handle tweeted.

The #IOCSession, meeting remotely, has withdrawn the recognition of International Boxing Association (IBA), upon the recommendation of the IOC Executive Board (EB).

Decision is based on the IOC Comprehensive Report on the Situation of the IBA, discussed by the IOC EB on 7 June.

— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) June 22, 2023

Decision is based on the IOC Comprehensive Report on the Situation of the IBA, discussed by the IOC EB on 7 June. The IBA had previously faced suspension by the IOC in 2019 due to issues regarding governance, finance, refereeing, and ethics. As a result, the IBA was not involved in organizing the boxing events at the Tokyo Olympics. While boxing remains a part of the Paris 2024 Olympics, the IOC has taken charge of managing the qualification bouts and the competition, instead of relying on the IBA as they did in Tokyo. Compounding the IBA's challenges, the termination of their sponsorship deal with Russian energy giant Gazprom, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, further complicated their position. The IBA is currently led by Russian businessman Umar Kremlev. The actions taken by the IBA have spurred the formation of a breakaway group known as World Boxing, resulting in several countries leaving the IBA to join this new organization.