By Declan Taylor
THE International Olympic Committee has challenged the boxing community to ensure the sport remains at the Los Angeles Games after ‘chaotic scenes’ at the International Boxing Association press conference on Monday.
IBA staged a set piece press conference on Monday to formally address the controversy surrounding the participation of Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting, the two boxers they disqualified from the World Amateur Championships last year after they failed what have been described as gender eligibility tests.
The briefing lasted nearly two hours in what one journalist described as a ‘cramped, boiling room’ which became increasingly chaotic. Even Algerian boxer Roumaysa Boualam turned up with her nation’s flag to show support for her team-mate Khelif.
President of the IBA Umar Kremlev, who joined the press conference via video link, insisted his organisation is only trying to protect women’s sport and criticised IOC president Thomas Bach.
The IOC held a press briefing of their own at 11am local time in Paris on Tuesday and responded to what occurred the previous day.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said: “I’m not going to comment on the chaotic scenes yesterday.
“What I will say is that it clearly demonstrates that the sport of boxing needs a new federation to run boxing.
“If you ever needed any evidence at all that the IBA is unfit to run boxing just to look at the key members of the IBA who took part in that travesty yesterday tells you everything you need to know.
“The sad thing is that boxing is an incredibly important Olympic sport. It’s important for us not just because it’s a great sport but it has a real social aspect for us it often works in areas that are under privileged so it’s incredibly important,
“I think the best recruiting sergeant for a new federation would be that press conference yesterday. I’d ask everyone who hasn’t seen it to please watch it because it will give you an idea of why we are desperately in need of a federation who can take this forward.”
There is a very real chance that boxing will not be included in the programme for Los Angeles 2028 and it has been suggested that the current gender row will only exacerbate the sport’s stark situation at the Games.
But Adams insisted there is still hope for boxing if a new federation can prove themselves worthy of running the competition in America, with the new World Boxing, for example, hoping to do exactly that.
Adams added: “We have organised boxing both here in Paris and at the Tokyo games. We are not a federation and we desperately need a new federation to run boxing and we hope that those national federations can bring it to Los Angeles.
“We would love to see boxing and we want to see boxing on the programme in LA. It’s up to the boxing community to organise themselves for the sport and for the athletes.”
