BAKU, Sept 27: Fresh allegations of corruption involving Azerbaijani boxers have surfaced at the world amateur championships following earlier claims the ex-Soviet state paid a huge bribe to secure Olympic gold for its fighters.

Britain’s newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported that Azerbaijan’s boxers had been given seeded positions at the world championships — the first Olympic qualifying event for boxing — that did not reflect their world rankings.

“The seedings see the Azerbaijani super-heavyweight Magomedrasul Medzhidov ranked No 2, despite never having fought in a major tournament at that weight,” the newspaper’s report said.

“Of the eight other [Azerbaijani] boxers, four are seeded at No 8 in their respective weight categories although that does not reflect their world ranking,” it said.

The International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) denied any irregularities in the seeding process at the championships, saying that it conformed to competition rules available for public scrutiny on its website.

“In the regulations, the host country has eight seeded boxers,” AIBA spokesman Sebastien Gillot said. “The regulation would be the same for any host country,” he added, rejecting any suggestion of preferential treatment for Azerbaijan.

He said Medzhidov was given his number two seeding because “he was the second best boxer in the World Series of Boxing last year”.

The British newspaper’s allegations followed a report by the BBC last week claiming that an Azerbaijani national paid a $9 million bribe to ensure victories for the country’s fighters at next year’s Olympics.

The claim caused fury in Baku where Azerbaijani boxing officials described it as a lie, while AIBA president Wu Ching-Kuo said it was “totally untrue and ludicrous”.

“Any corruption or manipulation is totally unacceptable,” he said.—AFP