LONDON (Reuters) – British boxers will not take part in the men’s amateur world championships in Tashkent after the country also boycotted last month’s women’s event in India amid mounting concern about the sport’s Olympic future.
The men’s tournament starts on April 30 in the Uzbek capital and runs to May 14.
GB Boxing had said in February when it announced a boycott of the women’s championships that it was reviewing participation in the men’s.
“The decision reflects ongoing concerns about the future of boxing’s place on the Olympic programme and the recent decision by IBA to allow teams of boxers from Russia and Belarus to compete under their national flags,” it said on Tuesday.
“This has put further distance between IBA and the Olympic movement in addition to the significant, longstanding issues over sporting integrity, governance, transparency and financial management which the IOC has asked IBA to address to protect boxing’s place on the Olympic programme.”
GB Boxing will send a team to the European Games in Poland, an official qualifying event for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The Russian-led IBA was stripped of involvement in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and boxing is not on the initial programme for the 2028 Los Angeles Games, pending reforms demanded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The U.S. and Irish federations announced in February they would not be participating in either the women’s or men’s world championships.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)
