International Olympic Committee set to strip International Boxing Association of official recognition

The IOC had decided to suspend the IBA in 2019 over various issues and didn’t even involve in matters surrounding the Tokyo Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decided to withdraw the recognition of the world boxing body International Boxing Association (IBA) since they failed to meet the reforms suggested by the IOC. The Olympic body confirmed the same in a statement.

A source with direct knowledge of the proceedings said the IOC had also decided to have the sport as part of the Olympic Games programme at Los Angeles 2028.

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.

As a result of these incursions, the IOC has also decided to provisionally exclude the sport from the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics Games.

In fact, the decision will need the confirmation from IOC in an extraordinary session which is set to be held on 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.

“This decision is based on the IOC Comprehensive Report on the Situation of the IBA dated 2 June 2023, which the IOC Executive Board discussed and approved today,” the IOC said in a statement.

“The report establishes that the IBA has failed to fulfil the conditions set by the IOC… for lifting the suspension of the IBA’s recognition.”

As things stand, boxing is on the agenda for the Paris 2024 Olympics but the entire programme will be conducted and run by the IOC and not the IBA, as was also the case with the Tokyo Olympics.

In an IBA report sent to the IOC recently, the association blamed the Olympic body for intransigence and false statements.

However, the IOC has repeatedly issued warnings to the IBA that they had not done enough in the way of reforms.

The IOC has also had reservations with the growing Russian influence within the organisation which is headed by Umar Kremlev. Other issues such as a sponsorship deal with Russian energy giant Gazprom that has since been terminated further complicated the IBA’s position, with Russia invading Ukraine last year.

The IBA’s actions have led to the creation of a breakaway group called World Boxing recently with several countries having left the IBA to join the new organisation.

Included in the list of countries who have joined the breakaway group are United States of America, Britain, New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden.