The United States Boxing Association mentioned the continuous failures of the IBA and respect for the Olympic Charter as grounds for withdrawing from the World Championships.
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The United States has opted not to send their men’s and women’s teams to the World Boxing Championships 2023, organized by the International Boxing Association (IBA). The United States Boxing Association mentioned the continuous failures of the IBA and respect for the Olympic Charter as grounds for withdrawing from the World Championships. The women’s competition will be held from March 15 to March 31 in New Delhi, India. While, the men’s tournament is set to take place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from May 1 to 14, 2023.
Mike McAtee, the executive director of USA Boxing, wrote a letter to the organization’s members in which he raised a number of issues, including the IBA’s governance problems, financial irregularities, and a lack of transparency. Despite the Ukraine conflict, the boxing federation has agreed to allow boxers from Russia and Belarus to participate with their flags and anthems. The boxers from Russia competed this month at the IBA Golden Belt Series in Marrakesh under the country’s flag and anthem. While the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is looking into ways for the two nations’ athletes to make a comeback at international competitions, the organization is continuing to advise against using national symbols.
Read more: Women’s World Boxing Championships 2023: India’s capital to host the upcoming edition
According to the USA Boxing statement, “While sport is intended to be politically neutral, many boxers, coaches and other representatives of the Ukrainian boxing community were killed as a result of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, including coach Mykhaylo Korenovsky who was killed when a Russian missile hit an apartment block in January 2023.”
“Based on IBA’s failure to meet the requirements of the Lalovic Report, failure to provide neutral third-party oversight, false and exaggerated statements from IBA leadership, opaque financial management and dependence on sanctioned companies, and allowing participation of athletes under sanctioned flags, anthems and colors (sic), USA Boxing will not participate in the IBA’s 2023 Women’s and Men’s World Championships, “the statement further read.
The IOC organized the Olympic boxing competitions at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 as the IOC had terminated recognition of the IBA in 2019. At the Paris Olympics 2024, the IOC will once again be in charge of organizing the competition. Due to persistent IBA governance difficulties, boxing’s inclusion on the Olympic schedule beginning in Los Angeles in 2028 is in jeopardy and has been dropped from the initial program. The International Olympic Committee recently warned that boxing might be eliminated from the Games in Paris as well. Their cause is not helped by the fact that the IBA President Umar Kremlev is from Russia. The IOC stated in September that it was particularly concerned after Kremlev received majority support to continue as IBA chief. He was re-elected in May after his opponent from the Netherlands, Boris van der Vorst, was declared ineligible to compete on the evening of the elections.
