The Olympic qualifying boxing tournament scheduled for Krakow in Poland in June will go ahead as scheduled according to International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesman Mark Adams.
As far as we are concerned that qualification (tournament) is absolutely going ahead and we will have the people to do it,” he told a virtual press conference on Wednesday night after a meeting of an IOC Executive Board meeting in Lausanne.
Fresh doubts over whether boxing would go ahead at the Paris Olympics emerged in the last ten days when the International Boxing Association (IBA) threatened to discipline referees, judges and technical officials if they officiated at the IOC run qualification tournaments.
Last Tuesday was the deadline for officials to respond to the invitation from the IOC’s Boxing Unit.
Mr Adams said that though he didn’t have the full details there ‘has been quite some expressions of interest.’
“I couldn’t go further than that and obviously we are doing our best to make sure there is a good, fair, open and transparent system for the Olympics Games Paris 2024,” he said.
“From our side it is (the qualifying tournament in Krakow) definitely going ahead. We obviously take note of the letter from the IBA.
"We are just saying that they need to be very clear what they are doing with that letter that they sent to some of the judges and officials.”
But the bitter row between the IOC and the IBA is gathering momentum.
In response to a letter from the IBA which threatened to take legal action against them over an alleged breach of a data agreements between the two organisations the IOC hit back today.
Quoting from the letter the IOC sent to the IBA today Mr Adams said: "The allegations contained in your letter, in particular those relating to the integrity of the process, are generally refuted.”
He said if the IBA pushed ahead with their threat to discipline officials it would “show they have no interest in a fair competition and a fair qualification for the Olympic Games."
The IOC Executive Board has requested their director general and their chief ethics and compliance officer to determine whether there are still major concerns regarding the IBA’s practice and activities pursuant to the Olympic charter.
Further, if the IBA are at risk of showing “that they have no interest in fair competition and fair qualification at the Olympic Games” the director general and the chief ethics officer should prepare a report including the IBA response for the next IOC Executive Board meeting.
“The IOC can only accept a sport in the Olympic Games where there has been a full and fair qualification process and let’s be clear it is the IOC which is in charge of the qualification process for boxing in the Olympic Games for Paris in 2024.
“To make it absolutely clear the IOC does not a problem with the sport of boxing itself, nor with the boxes, clearly not with the boxers. But there are problems with this suspended federation. It is very clear that if the IBA pushes ahead with these proposals it will have quite some consequences,” said Adams.
It appears the the IOC Executive Board is preparing the legal framework to take the unprecedented step of recommending the IBA, which is currently suspended, be relisted.
But for the moment boxing at the Paris Games looks safe.