Dominican Republic Excluded From AIBA Congress

(ATR) Around The Rings has confirmed that the Dominican Boxing Federation (FEDOBOXA) has been eliminated from the official list of the national federations eligible for the AIBA Ordinary and Election Congress.

Until now, there has been no official clarification regarding the withdrawal of FEDOBOXA's eligibility status after the publication of an official list on November 4 that was interpreted as final.

Knowing that, the president of FEDOBOXA, Rubén García was surprised when ATR informed him on Friday. He produced a photocopy of the official notification from AIBA with the acceptance of the Dominican federation to the Congress.

ATR sent an email to Dr. Bernhard Welten, Chairman of the AIBA Election Committee and its Ethics Commission.

A month ago, FEDOBOXA admitted that it had made an "involuntary mistake" in helping nine federations in the Caribbean by loaning them the money to pay the AIBA membership fee by the deadline of October 12, which is also a holiday in many countries in the region.

FEDOBOXA clarified that the payment, about $4,800, was returned the next day.

However, the Confederation of the Americas (AMBC) made public its criticism of FEDOBOXA, considering that action as a possible "violation of the election rule".

Argentine Osvaldo Bisbal said the transaction was carried out without the consent of the WBSC that he directs.

Bisbal informed the AIBA authorities of what happened weeks ago.

FEDOBOXA had nominated the renowned former Dominican sports and Olympic leader, and honorary vice president of AIBA, Bienvenido Solano, as a candidate for the presidency of AIBA.

On November 4, FEDOBOXA was among the 143 National Federations out of a total of 200 that had been declared Eligible by the AIBA Election Committee to participate in its Congress on December 12 and 13.

The nine national federations of the Caribbean (Saint Maarten, The Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Virgin Islands (US), Dominica, Anguilla, Bermuda, Haiti and Suriname) were ruled ineligible.

The body then clarified that this eligibility status is based on the payment of membership fees and in accordance with the AIBA Statutes.

In that Congress the elections of the new president and a new executive will be held and important reforms must be debated and approved to restore AIBA's credibility in terms of governance and transparency. The federation has been suspended since last year by the IOC.

A source from the Boxing Confederation of the Americas acknowledged his "surprise" in confirming this Friday the exclusion of the Dominican Republic from the list of eligible federations.

"We think that what was published was the final list as of this Thursday when the seven candidates for the presidency were confirmed," he said.

"Apparently it won't be until December 11," he added, though that needs to be confirmed by the Election Committee.

Welten, in announcing on Thursday that the Election Committee had certified all seven candidates, said the committee has "no doubt that each of the seven nominees is a suitable candidate to serve as AIBA president should he be elected".

The seven certified candidates are (listed according to the order in which they made their public announcements): Suleyman Mikayilov (Azerbaijan), Bienvenido Solano (Dominican Republic), Anas Al Otaiba (United Arab Emirates), Boris Van der Vorst (Netherlands), Umar Kremlev (Russia), Ramie Al-Masri (Germany) and Mohamed Moustahsane (Morocco).

With the withdrawal of the Dominican Republic, the Americas now has only 20 of its 43 federations at the virtual AIBA Congress, which will have 142 members out of a total of 200 members voting and debating their survival.

Written and reported by Miguel Hernandez

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