For the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s Executive Board approved a new boxing qualification system, allowing regional multi-sport events like the Asian Games next year, along with the Pan-American Games and European Games for the boxers to earn their berths for the Games.
“Designed by the IOC in close collaboration with boxing experts, the new qualification system is based on direct qualification through selected competitions, including the use of National Olympic Committee (NOC) regional multisport events as Olympic boxing qualification tournaments,” read an official statement from the IOC following an Executive Board (EB) meeting on Thursday.
The IOC EB meeting thumbed up the new qualification model after relieving the International Boxing Association (IBA) of rights to host boxing competitions and qualifications at the 2024 Games.
“The responsibility for the boxing competitions in the events will therefore not lie with the IBA, and alternative arrangements will be put in place with the respective event organisers”, the IOC added, keeping in mind the Olympic quotas to be earned through multi-sport events.
After the IOC stripped the IBA of its right to host the Paris 2024 competition, the IOC EB received an updated report on the progress made by the IBA to resolve the concerns raised by it. There are concerns about governance, financial model and judging and referring at international competitions despite some issues being resolved, according to the report.
“The IOC EB today received a report on the issues related to competition management and refereeing and judging processes highlighted by independent experts during the boxing competition at the recent Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. It also noted that no clear efforts have been made by the IBA to respect and fully implement the roadmap set out by the IOC EB in December 2021 with regard to the IBA’s governance,” the IOC said in another release.
The 2022 Asian Games are set to take place from 23rd September to 8th October in 2023 at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Expo Center in Hangzhou, China. The 19th edition of the event was originally scheduled for 10th to 25th September this year but the prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic pushed it back to the next year.
