ZCZC
BSP-04
BOX-OLY-2020-JPN
2020 Olympic organisers working for boxing at Games despite freeze
TOKYO, Dec 1, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The organisers of Tokyo’s 2020 Olympics
said Saturday they would continue working to stage a boxing tournament at the
games despite a freeze by the International Olympic Committee.
On Friday, the IOC said it was freezing preparations for boxing at the 2020
Games and launched a probe into the sport’s troubled governing body — the
International Boxing Association (AIBA).
It said it wanted the sport included in 2020, but warned its inquiry could
see boxing excluded.
On Saturday, Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto said that while “official level
contact” was halted by the IOC’s decision, working-level contact with AIBA
would continue.
“Working level contact is allowed, that’s our understanding. So we will
liaise, we will keep our collaboration, coordination,” he told reporters
after a meeting with the IOC’s executive board in Tokyo.
“We will make efforts in preparation so that we have no delay in responding
to the eventual decision which might come to implement the competition (of
boxing),” he added.
“Venue preparation will proceed accordingly.”
The IOC’s final decision on whether to include boxing in the 2020 programme
is not expected until next June, Muto said.
But he sought to reassure athletes that Tokyo would be ready if the IOC
permitted a boxing tournament at the Games.
“Regarding the preparations, no worries, that’s what I want to say to the
athletes,” he said.
The IOC says it has concerns about the “governance, ethics and financial
management” of AIBA, which last month elected as president a controversial
Uzbek businessman linked to organised crime by the US Treasury Department —
a claim he denies.
Qualifiers for the 2020 boxing tournament have been put on hold, the only
sport not to have its qualifiers proved and a step described as “very
significant” and possibly unprecedented.
Relations between the IOC and AIBA took a dive at the 2016 Rio Olympics
when 36 officials and referees were suspended amid allegations of bout
fixing.
Ties were further battered earlier this month when AIBA elected Gafur
Rakhimov as leader, who strenuously rejects the charges from the US Treasury
Department.
AIBA made a last-ditch bid to persuade the IOC that it had cleaned up its
act, issuing a flurry of statements lauding its own efforts on financing and
judging. But while the IOC has acknowledged progress on judging, refereeing
and anti-doping, it said there were still a “whole range” of issues on
governance.
Boxing has an ancient Olympic tradition and has featured at every modern
games since 1904, expect the 1912 Games in Stockholm because Swedish law at
the time banned the sport.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1005 hrs