LAUSANNE: The International Boxing Association (IBA) urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to revoke the qualification status from the European Games 2023, following the European Olympic Committees (EOC) decision to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing at the continental event, which damages the chances of these athletes of qualifying for Paris 2024.
Last Month, the EOC and the Polish Olympic Committee decided to exclude athletes from Russia and Belarus from the competition.
“There will be no athletes representing the Russian Federation and Belarus at the European Games in Krakow. We will not allow this to happen regardless of the diplomatic efforts that are currently taking place,” Marcin Nowak, president of the European Games Organising Committee had said.
As per IBA, the EOC’s decision contradicts recommendations from the IOC Executive Board, announced last month, that Russian and Belarusian athletes should be allowed to return to competition as neutrals.
“The IOC recognized a continental qualifier for Europe, which totally contradicts the IOC’s stance on Russian and Belarusian athletes, as these athletes are not able to compete at the European Games 2023 and will be denied the opportunity to qualify for Paris 2024,” the boxing world governing body said in a statement on Thursday.
“For this reason, the European Games 2023 can no longer remain an IOC recognized qualifier for Paris 2024 and must be annulled to counteract the discriminatory actions taken by the European Olympic Committee against the recommendations made at the last IOC Executive Board Meeting.
The IBA reiterates its commitment to fair opportunities for all athletes regardless of their nationality and will stand for the rights of each of them. The athlete-first approach should prevail and there should be no place for politics in our sport, and IBA shows this with its actions,” it added.
The IOC has already suspended recognition of the IBA in 2019 over its governance, financial transparency and sustainability, and the integrity of its refereeing and judging processes.
The IOC had administered boxing at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 directly and is managing the qualifiers for 2024 Paris Olympics as well.
The European Games will take place from June 21 to July 2 at the Henryk Reyman Municipal Stadium in Krakow. It is estimated that 7,000 athletes from 48 countries will participate. They will compete in 29 disciplines. A total of 19 sports will be held as Olympic qualifiers for Paris 2024. IANS
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