The danger of boxing being expelled from next yr’s Olympic Games in Tokyo rose last night following further allegations around fixing on the 2016 Rio Games.
A number of judging selections in Rio brought on massive controversy and 36 officials and referees had been suspended whilst concerns were raised that choices at some of the fights have been rigged, causing an enormous rift between the International Olympic Committee and amateur boxing’s governing frame, the International Boxing Association (AIBA), which has been reeling from one disaster to some other.
Yesterday, French newspaper Le Monde claimed it had seen details of an internal investigation by AIBA, which raised serious questions about the judging at Rio.
Le Monde claims that an e-mail from AIBA’s then-president Wu Ching-Kuo in November 2016 declared the frame suspected executive director Karim Bouzidi of acting with another senior legit to influence judges, especially those offering boxers from France and Uzbekistan.
Bouzidi turned into removed from his role three days earlier than the would of the Games due to the fact he was accused of favoring fighters from individual nations. Bouzidi turned into the day past unavailable for comment.
France won six boxing medals, along with golds for super heavyweight Tony Yoka and his now-spouse Estelle Mossely.
Kevin Rabaud, a former train of the French team, insisted there were no wrongdoing.
“We constantly played with the aid of the rules,” he said. “In Rio, we got outcomes thanks to our popularity and our previous effects.”
AIBA turned into provided final month through the IOC with a list of 41 questions over its governance, monetary management and the integrity of its competitions, thru audit company Deloitte, who will then document lower back to the Olympic body. The IOC will decide in June on whether boxing needs to continue at the Tokyo Games next yr.
Last Friday, Uzbek businessman Gafur Rakhimov stepped down as AIBA president after he changed into accused of hyperlinks to organized crime and become defined through the US Treasury Department as “one in every of Uzbekistan’s main criminals”. He secured the presidency again in November in spite of repeated warnings from the IOC in opposition to his election. However, Rakhimov insisted the allegations towards him were “politically stimulated lies.”
Northern Ireland’s Michael Conlan, who has usually claimed he was cheated out of a gold medal project at Rio, instructed The Daily Telegraph closing night: “It is the maximum heart-breaking component I even have experienced in my sports activities profession. I had the dream of winning Olympic gold from the days of being a little boy. I received the bronze medal in London in 2012, and I turned into 100 in step with cent satisfied I could win the gold medal in Rio. It became a coronary heart-wrenching.
“I could hate to see boxing removed from the Olympics. It is the biggest element there’s for the newbie boxers of the arena, even greater than triumphing the world amateur title.”
