AIBA President Working Without Pay

(ATR) The new International Boxing Association (AIBA) president Umar Kremlev will be working for free as he tries to get the federation’s finances in order.

The money that would have gone to his salary and expenses will be used to support boxing veterans.

"Boxing is my life. I want to do my best to develop my favorite sport and our organization. Therefore, I refuse to receive any representational allowance or any finances from AIBA for the Presidential office," Kremlev said in a statement released on Dec. 28.

After being elected president last month, Kremlev said clearing AIBA’s debt, which has been estimated at about $20 million, is "the most important and essential mission".

But balancing the books is only one of the many issues he must solve if AIBA is to return to the good graces of the Olympic family.

The IOC suspended AIBA in June 2019 for problems involving referees and judges, finance, ethics, doping and governance. This cost AIBA funding from the IOC as well as the right to organize the boxing competition at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

A virtual board of directors meeting held on Dec. 28 has approved the addition of five committees as part of the new constitution aimed at improving the governance of AIBA.

The new committees: the Coaches Committee will solve the issues of training of qualified coaching staff and develop methods of athlete’s preparation program; the Champions & Veterans Committee will include the most respected worldwide boxing veterans and champions who have achieved significant results and who are ready to share their experience; the Competitions Committee will oversee the organization of AIBA events and to ensure that they meet all international requirements and standards; the Women’s Committee aims to ensure gender equality in the boxing world; and the Medical & Anti-doping Committee will ensure that athletes comply with all medical and anti-doping rules.

These panels will begin work in early 2021. The join the existingDisciplinary Committee, Ethics Committee, Athletes Committee, and Audit Committee

The board also approved the extension of the agreement with the International Testing Agency (ITA) for 2021.

The agreement includes the general management of AIBA’s Anti-Doping program, follow-up of WADA compliance and all out-of-competition testing for the sport.

It was also decided that all AIBA developmental courses will be free of charge for national federations.

‘I am sure that the development courses should be available for everybody. After completing them, it will be necessary to conduct testing to control the knowledge gained. It is important that the level of competence of those who work in boxing is at the highest level,’ Kremlev said.

Five AIBA continental forums are planned for the first quarter of 2021. The meetings are part of Kremlev’s initiative to unite the AIBA Family and give every single national federation an opportunity to present their proposals for reforms of the Association.

A new communications strategy, designed to create a unified platform for both inside and outside AIBA, will be presented to the board in January.

The directors received a preview on Monday. The plan calls for each national federation to have a website as a subdomain of AIBA’s. The federation will also develop its digital footprint by creating additional accounts on social media that will be tied to the AIBA account through hashtags, subscriptions and editing formats.

‘During this challenging period for our sport, the boxing community has given me tremendous trust in spearheading the revival of the International Boxing Association and ensuring AIBA’s return to the Olympic family," Kremlev said.

"My team and I have already started to act. I am sure we will be able to prove the effectiveness of our work in the shortest possible time. It is now more important than ever for AIBA to have the cohesion of the efforts of the entire boxing community and the full commitment from each of us,’ he added.

Written by Gerard Farek

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