New Delhi: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) granted provisional recognition to World Boxing on Wednesday, February 26. This is a major step towards the inclusion of boxing in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. This move effectively reduced the International Boxing Association (IBA) to a non-entity and gave control to the new body.
The IOC banned IBA due to governance, finance, refereeing and ethical issues and did not include it in running the boxing events at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. The IOC stripped the IBA of recognition in 2023. The IOC has not included boxing in the LA 2028 programme and has urged national boxing federations to create a new global boxing body or they will miss out on the Olympics. The World Boxing was launched in 2023 and now has 78 members across five continents.
The IOC released a statement that stated the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee has provisionally recognised World Boxing as the International Federation (IF) within the Olympic Movement governing the sport of boxing at the world level during a remote meeting that was held today.
“Following an assessment of the situation of World Boxing, it was noted that, among the criteria for recognition that the IF has satisfied, World Boxing is composed of 78 National Federations from the five continents; and four continental confederations are already established” said IOC in a statement. The IOC further stated that 62 per cent of the boxers and 58 per cent of the boxing medallists at the 2024 Paris Olympics were affiliated to the National Federations that are members of World Boxing.
“The assessment concluded that World Boxing has continued to make progress regarding the identified areas of consideration in order to be recommended for IOC Provisional Recognition as the IF within the Olympic Movement governing the sport of boxing at world level” added IOC in a statement.
‘This is a very significant day’: World Boxing President Boris van der Vorst
World Boxing has welcomed the IOC move and President Boris van der Vorst said in a statement that this is a very significant day for everyone connected with the sport of boxing in the Olympic Movement. He further added that keeping boxing at the Olympic Games is crucial to the future of the sport at every level, from the grassroots to the highest echelons of professional boxing, and the decision by the IOC takes World Boxing one step closer to its objective of seeing boxing restored to the Olympic programme.
“It has taken a huge team effort from a large number of people across the globe to get to this point and none of it would have been possible without the hard work and commitment of all of the National Federations, boxers, coaches, officials and boxing leaders that have worked together to make this possible” World Boxing President Boris van der Vorst.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has granted provisional recognition to the newly-formed World Boxing ahead of the 2028 LA Olympics. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
