The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is looking to finalize its plans to have boxing be a part of the 2020 Olympics, but without the involvement of the International Boxing Association (AIBA).
The IOC has recommended that boxing be included in next year’s games, but the final decision will be made in the IOC’s next session from June 24 to 26 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
A special task force created by the IOC Executive Board will be chaired by Morinari Watanabe. the President of the International Gymnastic Federation. The purpose of the task force is to ensure the following:
A. Ensure the delivery of the following boxing competitions, with a goal of increasing sustainable gender equality in all areas of the sport:
i. Qualification events for boxing in view of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, due to take place between January 2020 and May 2020;
ii. Boxing tournament at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.B. Develop a Tokyo 2020 Qualification System for boxing, including the following details to be confirmed not later than the end of June 2019:
i. Definition of Men’s and Women’s weight categories;
ii. Review of quota places allocation across the boxing events, with a goal of increasing gender equality;
iii. Set the criteria for the quota places distribution at the qualification events.
The news comes after the AIBA has had issues for the past couple of years stemming from financial mismanagement to controversial judging during the 2016 Olympics.The AIBA was then revealed to be under financial stress, which led to the exit of C.K. Wu as president of the organization. Gafur Rakhimov was voted as the new AIBA president late last year, a decision that went directly against the IOC's wishes and potentially hurt the AIBA's chances of being involved in the 2020 Olympics.
Rakhimov has since then revealed his intentions to step down from the position, but if the IOC's current plans are finalized next month, the AIBA's status will be reviewed once more only after 2020. The 2020 Olympics in Tokyo will run from July 24 to August 9.
