AIBA was barred from using any Olympic properties for any communications or promotional materialsgetty images
The IOC put planning for the boxing tournament at the '20 Tokyo Games "on hold" in a move that "could see the governing body AIBA frozen out of the Games over a governance dispute," according to Jack Tarrant of REUTERS. The IOC in a statement said that it had also "launched an investigation into the International Boxing Association after AIBA submitted a progress report focusing on governance, financial management and sporting integrity." The IOC's Exec Board said that planning for the Olympic boxing tournament had been "frozen, with immediate effect, and contact suspended between AIBA and the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee." Planning for ticket sales, the approval and implementation of a qualification system, test event planning and finalization of a competition schedule were also "put on hold." AIBA was also "barred from using any Olympic properties, including the Olympic rings and Tokyo 2020 logo for any communications or promotional materials." No deadline was set for "further action but any decision to withdraw recognition from an international federation would have to be made at an IOC session," which is next scheduled for June '19 (REUTERS, 11/30). The AP's Wade & Dunbar note one option for the IOC is to "organize an Olympic boxing tournament, including qualifying, outside of AIBA's control." AIBA member federations "voted for Gafur Rakhimov of Uzbekistan as president in Moscow on Nov. 3 despite being on a U.S. Treasury Department sanctions list." Rakhimov "denies links to organized crime networks and the international drug trade" (AP, 11/30).
