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By:
Arsim Magjera
- December 13, 2024 19:41
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Kosovo still appears as one of the member countries of the "International Boxing Association", known for short as IBA. But not for too long.
The Board of the Boxing Federation of Kosovo has decided to leave the IBA and become part of another world organization that deals with the organization of amateur boxing competitions. The decision of the Board must be approved in the Assembly of the Boxing Federation of Kosovo, but this is more of a formality.
Thus, Kosovo becomes part of global clashes related to amateur boxing, namely Olympic boxing.
The IBA, formerly known as AIBA, is the traditional world organization of amateur boxing. It was founded in 1946 and is still the organization with the largest number of member countries. But the IBA is in open conflict with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The IOC does not recognize the IBA. It withdrew the recognition of this federation last year, "for lack of sufficient progress in addressing governance, finance and corruption concerns." For many years, the IBA was suspended by the IOC, which is the main sports organization in the world.
Boxing's appearance at the "Los Angeles 2028" Olympic Games is in great doubt. Boxing is currently not part of the program for LA 2028. The IOC has requested the establishment of a new global amateur boxing federation so that boxing remains on the Olympic programme.
This federation was founded on April 13, 2023. It is known as "World Boxing" (WB) but so far it has had difficulties to increase its influence, namely to extend to the whole world.
The International Olympic Committee does not stop trying to strengthen this organization and consequently weaken the IBA.
IOC officials, who were in Kosovo this week to mark the tenth anniversary of the Kosovo Olympic Committee's membership in the International Olympic Committee, have asked when the Kosovo Boxing Federation will switch from the IBA to the WB. The Kosovo Boxing Federation has been asked, and even pressured, to make this move by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports as well as by the Kosovo Olympic Committee.
The Kosovar Federation is fully financed by MKRS. Meanwhile, the MKRS, and of course the KOK, fully adhere to the positions of the IOC. Consequently, the Kosovo Boxing Federation has been asked for many months to leave the IBA and move to World Boxing.
The IBA is headed by Russian Umar Kremlev. Although in conflict with the IOC, the Kremlin has secured a large budget for the IBA, thanks to sponsorship deals with Russian powerhouse Gazprom. Due to the financial support provided by the IBA, many national federations have refused to leave the IBA to make way for World Boxing.
But the IOC is not stopping the pressure and it is bringing results.
World Boxing announced on Friday that it has reached 60 members.
"World Boxing has reached the figure of 60 members after membership applications from the national federations of Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, Jordan, Myanmar and Palestine have been approved by the Executive Board on December 12", writes the WB announcement.
This federation has already started organizing competitions, but they do not have a big impact yet.
Each membership is valued with great weight, especially by the European federations.
Andorra, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Scotland and Wales have already moved to World Boxing.
Kosovo is expected to confirm the move in January. The passage of Croatia, which has already been decided, remains to be confirmed, while Bulgaria will also move soon.
"The Executive Board of the Boxing Federation of Kosovo unanimously decided to leave the International Boxing Federation (IBA), which has been suspended by the International Olympic Committee, and join 'World Boxing'. The proposal of the Board is sent to the regular annual Assembly of FBOXK, which will be held in January. "World Boxing" is a new international federation which has the strong support of the International Olympic Committee for boxing to remain in the program of the Olympic Games "Los Angeles 2028", writes the announcement of the Kosovo Boxing Federation.
Amateur boxing has been in deep crisis for many years. Among other things, due to these collisions, but also due to the fact that the rules are not as strict as before, while it is now possible to move from professional boxing to amateur boxing.
In the last two Olympics, the boxing competitions, including the qualifiers, have been organized by the IOC and not the IBA. In all other sports, the competitions are organized by the international federations of the respective sports.
