The IBA challenges the IOC with its own qualification system for Paris 2024

The International Boxing Association (IBA) challenged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with the publication this Monday of his own classification system for the Paris 2024 Olympic Gameswhich seeks to include Russian and Belarusian athletes, in a competition that the Olympic body had withdrawn by having the IBA suspended from functions since 2019 for various irregularities.

The Sports Association, led by the Russian Umar Kremlevdeclared the following in a official statement.

With less than 18 months to go until Paris 2024 and numerous delays by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in announcing a clear qualification process for Paris 2024, the IBA has assumed the role of boxing's international governing body tasked with setting the path for which its athletes will qualify for Paris 2024.

For the I WAS GOING This action "is a necessary step to protect our athletes, qualification process proposed by the IOC not acceptable or fair. Exclude women's and men's world boxing championships from New Delhi and Tashkent of the classification for paris 2024 is not acceptable and goes against the principles of sport and boxing“.

He IOC agreed on June 2022 that the boxing qualifying competitions for the 2024 Olympic Games “would not be carried out under the authority of the International Association”after “the continuous and very worrying problems of the IBA in its governance and its system of arbitration and judges”.

In September of last year, the governing body for Olympic sport released a new system based on direct classification through regional multi-sport games: the Panamerican Games from Santiago de Chile, the European Games from Krakow, the Pacific Games of Honiara and the asian games of Hanfgzhou, all to be disputed in 2023.

After the continental phase of allocation of places, will be held two world ranking tournaments in 2024.

Back then the I WAS GOING reacted claiming that "These late changes" would have "a significant and direct impact on the agreed forecast of competitions for the period 22-23, not only for the IBA, but also for the continental confederations.

He also noted that it was not clear how would it run the system, the calendar exact neither the location of the tournaments in Africa and on a global scale.

By arrogating this Monday the power to establish the system olympic qualifying, voted unanimously by all national federationsaccording to the statement, now the federation tries to give prominence to its own world championships, classifying the two finalists in each category.

According to your proposal, Olympic qualification pathways would be:

world championships
IBA World Ranking position as of December 31, 2023 and March 31, 2024
Results in a world ranking tournament
Slots for the host country, France
Places to meet the universality criteria

“Any athlete or coach from a boycotted national federation who wants to participate in the IBA world boxing championships you can enroll directly“, the statement underlines.

The IBA has declared its commitment to do everything possible, including financial support through its Financial Support Program (FSP), to ensure that athletes from all national federations can fight for glory and achieve their dream of becoming world champions

This statement comes in the midst of a debate about whether the Russian and Belarusian athletes must be readmitted to the international competitions and, eventually, at the Paris Games, in any case under a neutral flag. Ukrainea country invaded by Russian troops, leads the opposition movement.

Umar Kremlev was re-elected last year at the helm of the IBA in another process riddled with irregularitiesin which the opposition candidate, the Dutch Boris van der Vorstwas disqualified as a candidate and later rehabilitated by the TAS, a ruling that the federative assembly ignored by refusing to repeat the voting.

The episode represented just one more chapter in the impatience of the IOCwhich keeps boxing in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games programbut It has not yet included it for Los Angeles 2028waiting for the IBA to resolve these issues.

The IBA reiterates its readiness to cooperate with the IOC for the benefit of boxing, its athletes, athletes and the stability and quality of the Olympic Games as a product. But no other qualification process for Paris 2024 will be accepted by the IBA and the boxing community other than the world championships and the last open tournament in May 2024.

(With information from EFE)