AIBA vote could determine future of Olympics boxing
The IOC has made it clear that if Gafur Rakhimov will win the elections to become president of AIBA, it was prepared to kick the body out of the Olympics and remove boxing from the 2020 Tokyo Games. Uzbekistan national, Rakhimov, has been linked to organised crime by the US Treasury Department.
The meeting of a controversy-ladled International Amateur Boxing Federation (AIBA) that is slated to begin in Moscow on Friday could serve to determine the future of the sport of boxing in the Olympics for years to come. Uzbekistan resident Gafur Rakhimov, who has been linked to
The Uzbeki has vigorously denied US government allegations but in October the International Olympics Committee (IOC) froze relations with AIBA as they also refused to accredit Rakhimov to the recently concluded 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires.
The IOC
The International Olympic body has been losing patience with boxing since a judging scandal at the 2016 Rio Games in which all 36 officials and referees were suspended after which allegations of bout-fixing were also thoroughly investigated by independent sources.
IOC president Thomas Bach had earlier said in February that he was, "extremely worried about the governance of AIBA". Though amateur boxing's head honchos had handed over a crucial report on internal reforms to the IOC in April, the threat of losing a place in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo continued to be a realistic possibility.
"This report shows some progress and goodwill but still lacks execution and substance in some areas. Therefore we retain our right to exclude boxing from Tokyo 2020," Bach had stated in May.
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