TOKYO: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) put planning for the Tokyo 2020 boxing tournament on hold on Friday in a move that could see the governing body AIBA frozen out of the Games over a governance dispute.

The IOC said in a statement it had also launched an investigation into the International Boxing Association after AIBA submitted a progress report focusing on governance, financial management and sporting integrity.

It referred to that enquiry as “the initiation of a procedure which can lead to the withdrawal of recognition for AIBA” but said it still hoped boxing would be part of the programme.

“The IOC Executive Board makes all efforts to protect the athletes and ensure that a boxing tournament can take place at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 regardless of these measures,” the statement read.

Inquiry ordered into troubled amateur boxing body AIBA

The IOC’s Executive Board said planning for the Olympic boxing tournament had been frozen, with immediate effect, and contact suspended between AIBA and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee.

“This will also include the freezing of any ticket sales for the boxing competitions or any approval or implementation of the qualification system,” the IOC’s Sports Director Kit McConnell said in Tokyo on Friday. “The step today is a very significant one and I’m not sure it’s one that’s ever been done.”

The inquiry will be chaired by IOC board member Nenad Lalovic, the Serbian president of wrestling’s governing body. It includes IOC member Richard Carrion of Puerto Rico and IOC athletes commission member Emma Terho, an Ohio State graduate who represented Finland in hockey at previous Olympics.

No deadline was set for further action but any decision to withdraw recognition from an international federation would have to be made at an IOC session. The next one is scheduled for June 2019.

McConnell said AIBA had been given adequate time to address the IOC’s concerns.

“The timeline from the time we raised these questions is not short in that regard,” he said. “These questions have been on the table throughout the whole of 2018 and tomorrow is December.”

AIBA has been in turmoil for years and the IOC has warned the Swiss-based body to sort out its finances and governance, as well as anti-doping issues, or risk missing out on the Tokyo Games.

Tokyo 2020 spokesman Masa Takaya said that Games organisers were very keen to work closely with the IOC to address any impact on planning.

The IOC executive board said AIBA had made progress but points of “significant concern” remained.

They included doubts about AIBA’s ability to continue as a going concern.

“This means basically [being able] to operate under normal financial circumstances with revenues to match the expenditure,” said McConnell.

“Equally, there are elements of the audited and financial reports which are still omitted and are not included in the information that has been provided to us and not available on the AIBA website.

AIBA said in a statement released to the media on Thursday that they had restored “a healthy and sustainable financial situation” to their accounts.

“The fear of going bankrupt due to past financial mismanagement is now far behind us,” AIBA president Gafur Rahimov said in the statement.

“It is time to turn the page and look further to the development of boxing worldwide.”

The IOC on Friday noted uncertainty about the role of Rahimov, an Uzbek, resulting from his “designation as a key member and associate of a transnational organised criminal network by the US Treasury Department”.

Rakhimov denies links to organized crime networks and the international drug trade. The long-time AIBA executive committee member was prevented from attending the 2000 Sydney Olympics and 2012 London Olympics by Australian and British government authorities.

The American federal sanctions bar US citizens and companies from doing business with him.

Despite its concerns, the IOC said it remained determined to feature boxing at Tokyo 2020. One option for the IOC is to organize an Olympic boxing tournament, including qualifying, outside of AIBA’s control.

“At the end of the day our goal is still to run an Olympic boxing tournament in Tokyo and protect athletes in that regard,” McConnell said. “All efforts will be made to protect the athletes and make sure a boxing tournament can take place in Tokyo 2020 regardless of these moves.”

Boxing has featured in all but one of the Summer Olympics since 1904 with Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Sugar Ray Leonard, Anthony Joshua and Katie Taylor among those to have won gold medals and gone on to claim professional world titles.—Agencies

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2018