LAUSANNE – The International Boxing Association (IBA) said on April 3 that it is analysing a decision by global sport’s top court to dismiss its appeal against the withdrawal of its Olympic recognition and it may take the case to the Swiss Federal Tribunal.
Ten months ago, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to strip the IBA of recognition over its failure to complete reforms on governance, finance and ethics.
“The IOC session took its decision based on the recommendation issued by the IOC executive board on June 7, 2023, following a long process, initiated shortly after the Olympic Games Rio 2016,” the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said in a statement on April 2.
“During (the process) the IOC requested the IBA to undertake various measures to address serious concerns related to its governance and financial stability.”
It added that the IBA had not complied with the conditions set down by the IOC.
“The IBA had not increased its financial transparency and sustainability, including through diversification of revenues, (nor) changed its process relating to referees and judges to ensure its integrity,” CAS said.
The sports court added that the IBA had not implemented all the measures proposed by the “governance reform group” established by the IOC, including a change of culture.
“The panel determined that these three elements justified the IOC session’s decision to withdraw recognition of the IBA,” the statement added.
“(It also) emphasised that the IOC’s right to control the circumstances in and the conditions on which it confers recognition outweighed the IBA’s personality rights.”
Rival body World Boxing said in March that it will seek recognition from the Olympic organisers to replace the IBA and keep the troubled sport on the programme for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
The IOC said it welcomed the CAS’ decision and that it was now up to the national boxing federations and national Olympic committees (NOCs) to find a partner international federation by 2025 at the latest to keep the sport in the Games.
It has put in place the Paris boxing unit to ensure qualification and hosting of the sport at the Games which begin on July 26.
Boxing has been part of every Olympics since 1920, but it went ahead in the Covid-delayed Tokyo Olympics only after the IOC stepped in to ensure the qualification criteria.
The IBA was suspended by the IOC in 2019 for multiple corruption scandals. Its fall from grace coincides with the emergence of a new umbrella federation, World Boxing, which already counts the 2028 Games host United States, and Switzerland, as members.
At the IOC session in Mumbai last October, it was announced that any decision regarding boxing’s presence on the 2028 Olympic programme was being “put on hold”. REUTERS, AFP
