Boxing Federation 'Confident' After Final Plea to IOC Inquiry

(ATR) AIBA’s interim president is confident boxing’s leaders pitched a persuasive case Monday to convince the IOC not to strip the federation of Tokyo 2020 hosting rights.

Mohamed Moustahsane headed an eight-member delegation which met today in Lausanne with the IOC ad-hoc inquiry committee, led by Nenad Lalovic.

"We had a very productive meeting with the IOC inquiry committee today and we remain confident that Mr. Lalovic and his team will be able to positively report back to the IOC executive board in a few days’ time," said Moustahsane.

"We have done everything in our power to work with the IOC and all of our Olympic partners, and we remain optimistic about the future of Olympic boxing and AIBA’s ability safeguard this great sport."

The two sides discussed a number of areas critical to the future of AIBA as Olympic boxing’s governing body including its reforms of finance, governance, refereeing and judging, which the IOC has previously highlighted as major concerns.

"It was a good mood. The president and team are confident," a source close to AIBA tells Around the Rings.

AIBA said it provided the inquiry committee with detailed insights into its "complete transformation of the organization", explaining the improvements made and assessment tools implemented as part of the revamp of the federation.

Boxing’s leaders made no mention in a statement about any questions Lalovic and his panel had concerning the question of Russian influence in the federation, which continues to raise alarm bells at the top of the IOC.

Item 4 on the agenda of Saturday’s extraordinary executive committee meeting was a proposal from Russian boxing federation chief Umar Kremlev to donate $16 million to wipe out AIBA’s debts.

Supposedly no decision was taken at the AIBA meeting to accept the donation.

A source close to the IOC inquiry has told ATR that nothing has changed with AIBA regarding the influence of Russians.

The federation’s decision to stick with Russia as host for both the men's and women's world championships later this year continues to irk the IOC. The men's event in September, originally set for Sochi, was moved to Ekaterinburg while Ulan Ude in eastern Russia will host of the Women's World Championships in October.

Last year, the Olympic governing body explicitly warned international federations against awarding world championships or major events to the country amid the fall-out from the state-sponsored doping scandal.

The awarding of the women's world champs to Russia was the first world championships to be awarded to the country since WADA reinstated Russia in September.

The IOC declined to comment to ATR today about the meeting of boxing officials with the IOC’s inquiry committee. It said only that the committee’s interim report will be delivered by Lalovic to Wednesday’s IOC executive board meeting.

"The ad-hoc inquiry Committee will form a recommendation for the IOC Executive Board on potential measures and sanctions in accordance with the Olympic Charter," a spokesman said.

The IOC is set to decide AIBA’s fate at the EB meeting, with Thomas Bach to address media at a press conference at the Olympic Museum.

AIBA expects to learn whether it has the green light to host the Olympic boxing competition – or not. The IOC ruling body’s recommendations will be subject to approval by the IOC Session convening in the Olympic capital in June.

Last week, AIBA executive director Tom Virgets told ATR he didn’t think the federation was being fairly assessed by the wide-ranging IOC inquiry into boxing’s governance.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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