IN case you haven’t had your fill of controversial election campaigns, AIBA will have you covered. The upcoming election for president of AIBA, the amateur sport’s international governing body, is crucial for boxing. AIBA is currently suspended from running the Olympic boxing tournament and needs to reform its governance to the satisfaction of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to be restored. If it can’t manage that, then the consequences for the sport could well be severe.
The election for AIBA president has been postponed till December 12-13 and will take place remotely.
The interim president Mohamed Moustahsane [pictured above] has unexpectedly announced that he himself will stand in this election.
Inside The Games report that Americas Boxing Confederation President Osvaldo Bisbal has roundly condemned the move. It coincided with permission being granted to two national federations, Colombia and Venezuela to pay their subscription fees late. Bisbal has accused Moustahsane of “manipulating the eligibility of these [national federations] because you were trying to get their support”.
Moustahsane joins a list of seven candidates for AIBA president with Russia’s Umar Kremlev, Anas Al Otaiba from the United Arab Emirates, Dominican Republic’s Domingo Solano, Boris van der Vorst, President of the Dutch Boxing Federation, German referee Ramie Al-Masri and Azerbaijan’s Suleyman Mikayilov.
Mikayilov has enlisted former UK sports minister Richard Caborn to support his campaign. Caborn heads Global Sports Investigations, which will advise Mikayilov on securing deep and lasting reforms to future AIBA governance and integrity structures. “I am delighted to get the agreement from Rt. Hon. Richard Caborn and the experienced GSI team to receive the best external and independent advice in governance and integrity areas. I learned that Richard has a deep passion for the sport of boxing himself as he has served before as the chairman of an AIBA national member federation,” Mikayliov said. “He also has a genuine understanding of all issues we are facing. His team will help me finalise some significant parts of my manifesto including reform recommendations in the areas of governance, integrity, gender equality and financial management. We need to hear independent voices in these crucial areas.
“As IOC President [Thomas] Bach recently reiterated the importance of necessary reform around governance in boxing, I believe restructuring this is vital for the future. I believe in the good governance which will inevitably lead to a more sustainable and impactful organisation to drive forward the sport of boxing. This is the reason why I invited GSI and Mr. Caborn to help me as we desperately need to take a great leap in these areas.”
