THE ASIAN Boxing Confederation said it aims to withdraw from the embattled International Boxing Association (IBA) after the global governing body was stripped of its Olympic recognition for failing to meet a set of reforms.
The Asian group’s board of directors met in Bangkok on Thursday and Friday after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) expelled the IBA over a failure to complete reforms on governance, finance and ethical issues.
The board recommended an extraordinary congress to amend its constitution and allow it to join a federation recognized by the IOC, president Pichai Chunhavajira wrote in a letter on Friday to the body’s 43 member nations.
A date for the congress has not been decided. This year’s Asian Boxing Championships have been postponed until further notice, including the youth and junior championships scheduled for July 14 in Astana, Kazakhstan.
“As a confederation we believe that the Olympics represent the pinnacle of athletic achievement,” wrote Mr. Chunhavajira, who is a member of the IBA board of directors due to his position as ASBC president.
An IOC extraordinary session approved an executive board recommendation to withdraw the IBA’s recognition by a 69-1 vote. The Olympic body had suspended the IBA in 2019 over governance, finance, refereeing and ethical issues.
Several countries, including the USA and Britain have left the IBA to form a breakaway group called World Boxing, which has not received recognition from the IOC. — Reuters