In Nis, Serbia
Barely 16 hours after Russia were crowned the best team at the International Boxing Association (IBA) Women’s World Boxing Championships here in Nis, Serbia, tournament organisers were dealt a knockout blow by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) some 1,000 kilometres away in Costa Navarino, Greece.
Speaking at a media briefing at the end of an IOC Executive Board meeting in the Greek Mediterranean holiday resort destination yesterday afternoon, the Olympic body’s outgoing President Thomas Bach announced that boxing is officially back on the programme of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
But he quickly added that nations competing will only be those affiliated to World Boxing, and not their rivals IBA, organisers of the Nis championships.
“Boxing is back in the Los Angeles Olympics after the provisional recognition of World Boxing in February,” Bach who will be replaced at tomorrow’s IOC elections in Costa Navarino said.
Seven candidates are lined up in the race to succeed Bach, namely 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.
Voting will be done by the 109 IOC members,including Kenya’s Paul Tergat and Humphrey Kayange.
“It now remains for the IOC session to approve this decision (recognizing World Boxing) so that boxers of the world have certainty that they will compete in Los Angeles in 2028 if their national federation is recognized by World Boxing,” Bach told journalists on the decision to back World Boxing.
The IBA has been moving to lure more member federations with lucrative cash awards as it fights for supremacy of the sport with World Boxing.
Morocco’s emotional Widad Berthal celebrates after winning the gold medal by defeating Turkey’s Akbas Hatice in the bantamweight final of the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Nis, Serbia, on Sunday night.
Photo credit: Pool | IBA
At the championships that concluded on Sunday, IBA set aside about Sh370 million) in prize money with winners in each of the 12 weight categories taking home Sh13 million each, silver medallists Sh6.4 million, bronze medallists Sh3.2 million and quarter-finalists Sh1.3 million each.
World Boxing’s provisional recognition by the IOC will now see them in line to organising the boxing competition at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
At the previous two Olympic Games in Paris last year and Tokyo , the IOC has managed the qualification process and the organisation of the Olympic boxing competition due to the fights between World Boxing and IBA.
Last week, as the IBA tournament was running, World Boxing announced that six new members – including China, Turkey, Greece, Montenegro and Slovakia who were competing in Nis – had joined their organisation alongside Sudan, increasing their membership to 84 countries.
“It is my pleasure to welcome our latest members which further increases the global reach of World Boxing across all five continents as we continue to grow and go from strength to strength,” World Boxing President Boris van Vorst said in a statement posted on ‘X.’
“The addition of six more members to our ever-increasing membership is further evidence of the widespread support that exists across our sport for the work that World Boxing is doing to deliver a better future for boxers and ensure that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic Movement,” he added.
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 Sudan.
Russian businessman Umar Kremlev heads the IBA, an organisation that 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.
The IBA has been accused of corruption and lack of transparency, claims Kremlev furiously denies.
Boxing Federation of Kenya (BFK) President, Anthony “Jamal” Otieno Ombok, who is also running for the position of Vice President at next month’s elections of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya, said the federation will soon make their final decision know on whether or not they will jump ship to World Boxing from IBA.
Meanwhile, the finals of the 14th IBA Women’s World Championships drew to a close at the Cair Sports Centre here on Sunday night, Kazakhstan’s newly-minted world light flyweight champion Alua Balkibekova walked up to Kenya’s Veronica Mbithe and handed her a new pair of boxing gloves.
Struggling to communicate in English, Balkibekova said she was showing appreciation for Mbithe’s resilience that took their opening round fight earlier in the week down to the wire.
The three-time world medallist and twice Asian champion had to dig deep to outpoint Mbithe, analysts having predicted that the Kenyan would not last the distance against her more decorated, 29-year-old Round of 32 opponent.
Despite the fact that Kenya failed to get any medal as Russia emerged as the “Team of the Championship”, there were a lot of positives to be drawn, as indicated by Balkibekova’s gesture.
Bantamweight Widad Berthal of Morocco was the only African finalist on Sunday and did not disappoint as she beat Akbas Hatice of Turkey on a 5-2 split points decision to bag gold.
The Moroccan has been a joy to watch and a crowd favourite here with her emotional post-fight celebrations just what the doctor ordered for ringside photographers.
The home crowd was also given something to cheer about when home girl Andjela Brankovic floored Thailand’s Punrawee Ruenros to win the featherweight gold, Serbia’s first at these championships.
Ombok, who was in Nis for Sunday’s finals, conceded that Kenya has a mountain to climb to keep up with the joneses, but remained optimistic that his federation would move with speed.
“The most important thing we have seen at this tournament is that we need to invest in equipment, such as the ring and facilities the boxers need to train,” he reflected.
“These boxers here compete more regularly and that’s what we need to do, even staring with inter-clubs and inter-counties competitions. Only with more boxing can we improve our standards.
“We shall embark on getting a good gym for our boxers to be training round the clock, not only when there’s a tournament coming up.
The Kenyan team of eight were in non-residential training at the run-down Mathare Police Depot in the run-up towards the Serbia tournament, less than ideal conditions to perform.
