Olympic Notes: Boxing Pulls Out Of World Combat Games Over IOC Row

Boxing will "no longer be part of the World Combat Games" and the Int'l Boxing Association (AIBA) is also leaving the SportAccord umbrella organization after its row with the IOC. The federation is the latest to leave SportAccord after SportAccord President Marius Vizer's "scathing attack" on the IOC last month. AIBA CEO Ching-Kuo Wu said in a statement, "Boxing is a noble art and a traditional Olympic sport and we feel that the participation in the World Combat Games challenges this identity among boxing fans" (REUTERS, 5/7). ... Beijing has "extended a ban on outdoor barbecues to restaurants operating in some suburban areas" as it "tries to improve notoriously poor air quality" in case it wins the 2022 Winter Olympics. Barbecues are "already banned within the city's fourth ring road." The outlying suburb of Tongzhou, as well as parts of Shunyi, Miyun, Pinggu and Fangshan, will "now have to follow the ban" (REUTERS, 5/7).