Kazakh Boxing Presidential Hopeful Appeals to CAS

(ATR) Serik Konakbayev has launched an appeal to sport’s highest court over AIBA’s decision to make him ineligible for the boxing federation presidency.

Konakbayev’s legal challenge to the Court of Arbitration for Sport follows the Oct. 3 decision by AIBA's election committee to rule him out of November’s election at the federation’s congress in Moscow. Around the Ringsunderstands he didn’t have the required 20 nominations needed to get on the ballot sheet.

Amid claims and counterclaims of foul play in the AIBA presidential race, interim president Gafur Rahimov will stand unopposed for the leadership of the Olympic federation.

In a statement issued Monday, Konakbayev said the election committee’s decision for his ineligibility was due to the fact that nomination forms that arrived on Sept. 24 were not counted, as the deadline was midnight on Sept. 23.

"According to Swiss Law, Monday should be accepted rather than the 23rd which is a Sunday and so not a working day," said his statement.

Konakbayev said he was "extremely surprised" not to be included in the final list of presidential candidates, "and (I) believe it is in the best interest of our sport to have a contested election so that AIBA’s member federations can choose the leader that they want on 3 November."

Last week, the IOC executive board meeting in Buenos Aires reiterated its threat to expel boxing from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic program unless AIBA fixes governance issues.

The IOC, which is refusing to accept Rahimov as head of the federation, cancelled accreditation for him or family members for the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires. It’s part of a freeze in communications and funding with AIBA leadership.

The Uzbek-born Russian businessman, interim boxing chief since January, is on a U.S. Treasury Department list for alleged connections to Russian transnational criminal organizations. He denies the allegations.

In an unprecedented move, the director general Christophe de Kepper last week wrote to AIBA’s member boxing federations to warn about the consequences of a Rahimov presidency.

It said the IOC was awaiting final reports from AIBA due Nov. 12 before taking additional action. In a separate statement, also issued on Oct. 3, the IOC expressed "ongoing extreme concern with the grave situation" surrounding AIBA’s governance and leadership.

De Kepper’s letter followed a warning in May from the IOC Ethics and Compliance officer that Rahimov was unsuited to serve as AIBA president due to the sanctions from U.S. authorities.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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