The Board of Directors of the World Association IBA has decided to return Russian and Belarusian boxers to international competitions. This is reported by the industry service “insidethegames.biz”. The same applies to the technical delegates of both countries.
Their flags may also be hoisted again and their national anthems played again. A statement from the IBA states that “politics should not have any influence on sport”.
This decision contradicts the position of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and most other world federations, which recommended and implemented the exclusion of athletes from both countries from international competitions because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
The IBA has been suspended by the IOC since 2019 due to numerous scandals. Boxing will still take place at the Olympic Games in Paris in two years, but as was the case last time in Tokyo in 2021 under the auspices of the IOC.
IBA boss Umar Kremlev is also controversial. Only at the beginning of the week was the Russian unopposed in office. Originally, the Dutchman Boris van der Vorst wanted to challenge Kremlev. However, that didn’t happen. The IBA put the new elections to the vote, almost 75 percent of the delegates voted against it, so Kremlev remained in office. The IOC noted this with “extreme concern”.
Kremlev, head of the association since the end of 2020, saved the IBA (formerly AIBA) economically with the help of the main sponsor Gazprom, but made it completely dependent on the Russian state-owned company. He was also considered a close confidant of his predecessor Gafur Rachimov, who was stripped of his post following serious allegations of corruption.