In Nis, Serbia
Next week in Greece, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will hold its eagerly-awaited elections to vote in a new president who will succeed current leader Thomas Bach.
This is the most competitive contest in history, featuring seven candidates with no clear-cut favourite between Briton Sebastian Coe, Spaniard Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, France’s David Lappartient, Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry, Japan’s Morinari Watanabe, British-Swede Johan Eliasch and Prince Feisal al Hussein of Jordan.
They will be seeking to secure enough votes from the 109 IOC members, including Kenya’s Paul Tergat and Humphrey Kayange, to serve a four-year term.
High up the incoming IOC president’s in-tray will be the way forward for boxing with the International Boxing Association and World Boxing both fighting for legitimacy in the Olympic movement as the build-up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics draws closer.
Just two weeks ago, World Boxing was granted provisional recognition by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) handing them the advantage in organizing the Olympic sport going into the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
The IBA has, meanwhile, been working towards attracting more member federations with lucrative cash awards as it fights for supremacy of the sport with rival World Boxing.
But claims of lack of transparency and corruption in the IBA – an organisation led by Russian businessman Umar Kremlev – have dealt it a near knockout blow and it will be interesting to see what the new IOC president rules on the way forward for the popular Olympic sport.
IBA has also been accused of poor officiating it its competitions with Kenya’s contingent here on the receiving end after Team Kenya captain Elizabeth Andiego was denied what would have been a historic entry into the semi-finals.
The referee of her contest against China’s Wang Xiaomeng – Estonian Moris Punho - stopped the quarter-final bout for no apparent reason and handed Xiaomeng a win even after having also failed to reprimand the Chinese fighter for several infringements.
“I’m very disappointed… the referee has robbed me this game… Granted, one must take in punches, but for the referee to stop the game prematurely is quite unfair,” the Kenyan captain lamented, struggling to come to terms with the decision that would have seen her become the first Kenyan woman fighter to bag bronze in this global contest.
“I would have bounced back and won this fight. The referee was also giving me too many warnings and none to the Chinese fighter who was obviously hold me a lot… he was only warning me and not her. Why?
“I’m extremely disappointed because I was sure I was going through,” lamented Andiego, 38, who started the fight aggressively forcing the colourless, 23-year-old Chinese fighter on the backfoot.
“Liz was Ok to continue boxing… why did the referee stop the contest? We don’t dispute the standing count, but why stop the fight?,” David Munuhe, Boxing Kenya Federation’s secretary general, who was in Andiego’s corner, complained as head coach Musa Benjamin threw bitter words at the referee before storming out.
At the previous two Olympic Games in Paris last year and Tokyo (2021), the IOC has managed the qualification process and the organization of the Olympic boxing competition.
And curiously on Wednesday, just as the IBA tournament gathered steam here, World Boxing announced that six new members – including China, Turkey, Greece, Montenegro and Slovakia who are competing here – had joined their organization alongside Sudan, increasing their membership to 84 countries.
Kenya is aligned to the IBA while World Boxing, that was formed in April, 2023, so far has membership from seven African nations, namely Algeria, Egypt, Gambia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Malawi and now Sudan.
Observers ringside yesterday argued that the pro-China refereeing decisions were attempts at luring the Asian giants back onto the side of the IBA in their Olympic war.
Kenya, alongside Serbia, Sierra Leone, Slovakia and Venezuela were looking to win their first world medals in history in yesterday’s action alongside French Polynesia, Nigeria, Latvia and Mexico.
And Serbia’s Shandrina Natalia made sure the hosts got into bronze medal place by defeating Sierra Leone’s Betist Josefien on a unanimous points decision in front of a vocal home crowd at the Cair Sporte Centre.
The IBA took over from its predecessor, the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA), changing its name alongside its look and feel in December, 2021, immediately introducing significant cash awards for boxers at the Men’s World Boxing Championships in Belgrade the same year.
