World Boxing, an international amateur boxing organization formed last year after a breakdown in relations between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Association (IBA), has announced the admission of Taiwan, along with four other nations, into its growing list of members.
In a statement released on its Web site on Friday, the Swiss- based organization said that in addition to Taiwan, admitted as Chinese Taipei, Bhutan, Ecuador, Fiji and Pakistan have also become members.
The new members all have well-rounded national and international boxing programs as well as transparency in the leadership and management of their national boxing programs, World Boxing said.
Photo: Walid Berrazeg, AFP
Moreover, they abide by the policies and practices of the World Anti-Doping Agency and are all accepted by their own national Olympic committees or state sports ministries, it added.
“I am very happy to welcome Chinese Taipei, Pakistan, Bhutan, Fiji and Ecuador to World Boxing and look forward to working closely with each of them in our efforts to ensure that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement,” World Boxing president Boris van der Vorst was quoted as saying in the statement.
With the five latest additions, the amateur boxing organization now has 42 members from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania, which it said represents a “significant boost” in the wake of the Paris Olympic Games.
“My colleagues and I at World Boxing had a very productive two weeks at the recent Olympic Games in Paris when we met the leaders of many national federations, and I am very confident that we will continue to receive more membership applications in the coming weeks,” Van der Vorst said.
World Boxing was established in April last year with the objective of keeping boxing in the Olympic Games, amid heavy criticism of the IBA, and doubts about the survival of the sport in the Olympics.
In the past few years, the IBA has made multiple questionable decisions, such as disqualifying two female boxers — Taiwanese Lin Yu-ting and Algerian Imane Khelif — at last year’s Women’s World Boxing Championships for failing unspecified gender-related tests, and it continued to cast doubts on their gender during the Paris Olympics.
Paris Olympics gold medalist Lin, who won gold at the World Boxing Championships in 2018 and 2022, was stripped of her bronze medal in the under-57kg class at last year’s tournament.
On Tuesday last week, the Executive Yuan in Taipei ordered sports officials to reinstate her honors and prize money for that bronze medal in light of the IOC discrediting the IBA.
With the IBA’s future in question, World Boxing held its first formal meeting with the IOC in early May to establish a means for boxing to remain in the Olympics.
“It is clear there is a huge appetite for change in international boxing and that many national federations now recognize the only way we can ensure that boxing has a future within the Olympic Movement is by joining World Boxing,” Van der Vorst said.
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