GUWAHATI: The cat is out among the pigeons! On Wednesday, IOC sent shockwaves through the boxing world by recommending that the sport’s governing body be stripped of its right to organise the event at 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
The decision, almost certain to be rubber-stamped by the full IOC membership next month, followed an investigation into alleged mismanagement at the crisis-riddled International Boxing Federation (AIBA). The only silver lining for boxers is that the sport will still feature at the Olympics, though both qualification and the actual Olympic events will now be handled by IOC. AIBA has been organising boxing at the Olympics since 1948 but the relationship between the body and IOC had broken down following controversy at the 2014 Games where 36 officials and referees were suspended amid allegations of bout-fixing.
The meeting saw the creation of a special task force, chaired by IOC member and president of the International Gymnastic Federation (FIG) Morinari Watanabe with the mandate to organise boxing events at the Olympics.
“Today’s decision was taken in the interest of the athletes and the sport. We want to ensure that the athletes can live their dream and participate in Tokyo while drawing necessary consequences for AIBA following the recommendations of inquiry committee. We offer a pathway back to lifting the suspension, but there needs to be further fundamental change,” said IOC president Thomas Bach.
The development will be a major disruption for boxers. IOC says that weight categories at the Games will only be finalised towards the end of June. Many boxers have shifted weight categories with an eye on the Olympics, including a couple of big names from India. Mary Kom switched from 48kg to 51kg while Asian Championships gold-medallist Pooja Rani switched from 81kg to 75kg. Kavinder Singh Bisht, who stunned reigning world champion Kairat Yeraliyev at the Asian Championships recently also made the switch from 52kg to 56kg. But now, with uncertainty prevailing over weight categories at the Olympics, all their plans have been thrown into disarray.
“The main drawback is that it could hamper boxers’ plans as they had set their goal for World Championships,” said Boxing Federation of India executive director RK Sacheti. “So they have to start afresh, based on what the IOC EB decides in June. But they (IOC) have said that the number of weight categories will remain the same. I don’t think they will change. The decision on weight categories had been approved by the body earlier.”
IOC confirmed that qualification for the Games will take place between January and May 2020.