BERLIN: Algeria, whose athlete Imane Khelif won gold at the Paris Olympics amid a gender dispute, and Japan have joined World Boxing, increasing the fledgling body’s membership to 44 national federations, World Boxing said on Tuesday.

World Boxing presents itself as a new global body after the International Boxing Association was stripped of its recognition last year by the International Olympic Commi­ttee over finance and governance issues.

Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting were in the spotlight at the Paris Games last month over their eligibility after they had been disqualified from the 2023 World Championships by the IBA, which said sex chromosome tests had ruled them ineligible.

But they competed in the women’s category in Paris after being cleared by the IOC, much to the anger of the IBA. Both won gold medals in their weight classes.

“The National Federations for boxing in Japan and Algeria have become the latest two countries to join World Boxing,” World Boxing said in a statement.

It said World Boxing now had a total of 44 members, seven of whom had joined since the Paris Games, and more countries were in the process of applying.

“The additions of Japan and Algeria enhance the global profile of World Boxing by increasing our presence in Asia and Africa,” said head of World Boxing Boris van der Vorst. “Their decision is further evidence of the widespread desire for change that exists across our sport and illustrates how important it is that we retain boxing’s place at the heart of the Olympic Movement.”

Team Algeria had opposed the IBA’s decision to ban them through the World Champion­ships and welcomed the IOC’s ruling to allow their athlete to box at the Paris Games.

The IOC has not included the sport on the Los Angeles 2028 Games programme yet and has urged national boxing federations to create a new global boxing body to replace the IBA or risk missing out on the Olympics.

It has said a decision would be taken in 2025.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2024