The bid between the IOC and the IBA heats up: the Women's Boxing World Cup begins with Russians and Belarusians competing

In the midst of the controversy installed for almost two months over the possible readmission as neutral athletes from

and

, marginalized from international competitions since the invasion of Ukraine, the flags and names of these two countries will appear again in a a world championship.

It is that the ecumenical women's boxing tournament, which will be held from this Thursday in

and which is organized by the International Federation (

; suspended by the

since 2019), opened the doors to the boxers of these two nationalities and divided the waters even more.

Several countries, including

,

(second with the highest number of medals in the previous edition),

and

, decided to boycott the event due to the presence of Russians and Belarusians, who had missed last year's event be in force the measures taken by the war in Ukraine.

But for this occasion, the IBA, chaired by the Russian

, lifted the sanction.

The Russian delegation will be, together with that of Kazakhstan, the largest, with 35 boxers, although 12 are expected to compete, one by weight.

The rest will travel as reserve.

The Russians won the 2019 World Cup, with three gold medals, one silver and two bronze.

Belarus, meanwhile, registered six participants.

IBA President Kremlev and Russia's Sports Minister Matytsin at the opening party in New Delhi.

Photo REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis

The Russian and Belarusian flags were present at the opening ceremony, held in the Indian capital on Thursday, and appear next to the names of the athletes in the boxes for each category.

In addition, Oleg Matytsin, Minister of Sports of Russia, was a guest at the opening party.

Two situations that contradict the sanctions in force against those two countries in the vast majority of sports, where, at most, their athletes are allowed to compete as neutrals. 

Despite the tense relations between the IOC and the IBA, the Olympic Committee sent a team of observers to the Indian capital to see if, as the federation defends, these will be the "fairest and most transparent" World Cups and if They perceive progress in the reforms required in matters of arbitration and governance.

The tournament will also mark a new chapter in the unprecedented crisis in which Olympic boxing is plunged less than 500 days before the start of

, due to the confrontation between the IBA and the IOC.

A crisis that worsened about three weeks ago, when the federation published its own classification system for the French Olympic event, in a clear challenge to the Committee, which had taken away its power to do so in 2019, when it was suspended for various irregularities. and had already approved last year the path for next year's Games.

The flags of all participating countries, including those of Russia and Belarus.

Photo EFE/EPA/RAJAT GUPTA

"Faced with numerous delays by the International Olympic Committee in announcing a clear qualification process for Paris 2024, the IBA has assumed the role of boxing's international governing body tasked with establishing the path by which its athletes will qualify for the next Olympic Games. ", the Kremlev-led organization announced at the end of February.

He added: "It is a necessary step to protect our athletes, as the process proposed by the IOC is neither acceptable nor fair. Excluding the Women's and Men's Boxing

from the rankings goes against the principles of sport and the boxing".

The IBA system - "approved" unanimously by all the national federations that participated in the ordinary IBA congress in Abu Dhabi - establishes that the women's world championships in New Delhi is the main qualifying route for women and will award two places per category, for the finalists.

The same will happen with the men's, which will be held from May 1 to 14 in

, Uzbekistan, also with the presence of Russians and Belarusians. 

The re-election of Kremlev, in May of last year, in an electoral process that was marked by irregularities, led the IOC to reaffirm the sanction.

Photo EFE/EPA/RAJAT GUPTA

The other tickets would be distributed based on the results of the continental championships;

IBA World Ranking position as of December 31, 2023;

three

events ;

and a world ranking tournament to be held in May next year.

"The IBA reiterates its openness to cooperate with the IOC for the benefit of boxing, its athletes, and the stability and quality of the Olympic Games product," the Association said.

And he warned that "no other qualifying process for Paris 2024 will be accepted."

"The objective is to give all athletes the right to compete in the World Championships and not be victims of the political games of a few National Federations," said the IBA, which maintains that the champions and runners-up of its world championships will have their places secured. in Paris. 

The IOC, however, does not recognize these events as qualifying and upholds the IBA sanction, which it imposed in 2019 for irregularities in arbitration and administrative activity and cost the federation the authority to organize the qualification process for Tokyo 2020

.

The re-election of Kremlev as president, in May of last year, in an electoral process that was marked by irregularities and that even ignored a ruling by the Court of

that demanded a repeat vote, led the Committee headed by

to reaffirm its position .

The IOC then announced that the boxing qualifying competitions for Paris 2024 would also not take place under the authority of the International Association, after "continuing and very worrying problems in its governance and its refereeing and judging system."

And he questioned the presence of the sport in the Los Angeles 2028 event. And in September he approved a new system -different from the one he had outlined in April, in agreement with the IBA- based on direct classification through regional multi-sport appointments , the

, the European Games in Krakow, the Pacific Games in Honiara, the Asian Games in Hanfgzhou, and the African Games in Ghana, which will all take place this year.

The process will be completed in 2024 with the holding of two world qualifiers, which still do not have confirmed dates or venues.

The IOC;

chaired by Bach, ratified a few weeks ago that the World Cup in New Delhi is not a qualifier for Paris.

Photo EFE/ Abir Sultan

"The only valid classification system is the one approved by the IOC in September 2022, published and distributed to the National Olympic Committees and National Boxing Federations on December 6, 2022," the IOC explained to the Inside the Games site a few days

. weeks.

"The suspension imposed in 2019 on the International Boxing Association is still in effect today."

Despite the tense relations between the IOC and the IBA, the Olympic committee sent a team of observers to New Delhi to see if, as the federation defends, this will be the "fairest and most transparent" World Cup and if progress is perceived in the reforms required in terms of arbitration and governance for the lifting of the sanction. 

Although for now, with two organizations facing each other and two very different paths marked out towards Paris, the biggest losers are the athletes, who, less than a year and a half before the Olympic Games, are facing an unprecedented scenario full of uncertainty.

A scenario further complicated by the tension and controversy generated by the return of the Russian and Belarusian boxers to international competition. 

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