Executive Director of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) Tom Virgets called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to accelerate the decision on qualifying competitions for the 2020 Olympics. He noted that delays harm athletes who need to prepare a training plan, R-Sport reports.
At the end of November 2018, the IOC announced that it had frozen plans for a boxing competition at the Games in Tokyo, and also suspended the implementation of qualifying competition system after it launched an investigation into AIBA. A special committee was created, which was entrusted with the responsibility for the investigation. The head of the United World Wrestling Nenad Lalovic became a director of this committee. Subsequently, the IOC President Thomas Bach assured that the committee will make every effort to bring the boxing tournament to the next Olympiad.
“We are still ready to cooperate with the IOC and answer all questions that concern them. We take the current situation seriously and strive to cope with all the tasks that the IOC sets for us,” Mr. Virgets said.
“As we talked before to the head of the investigation committee, we expect that all meetings and hearings should go public. We hope that we can move forward without further delay. Today, our boxers suffer from interruptions, as it is unclear how, when and where they will be selected for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. It is not correct to treat athletes in this way, their interests should be top priority,” he added.
