World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman hopes that boxing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will be organized with the young participants as the paramount priority.
The International Olympic Committee suspended AIBA, completely removing any possibility for them organizing the competition of 2020, in addition to creating a working group chaired by Morinari Watanabe, head of the International Gymnastics Federation, in order to properly organize the tournament.
“We want the IOC to arrive at an adequate organizational system, to return to the basics of amateur boxing. Professional boxng has nothing to do with the Olympics or amateur boxing, We hope, that a formula will be reached where organization will be handled in an appropriate manner. So that young people can compete for their Olympic dream. That is the position of the WBC,” said Sulaiman Saldivar.
He recalled that more than 10 years ago, José Sulaimán pointed out certain glaring irregularities that were not addressed and… “Now the IOC leaves AIBA out of organizing and controlling international world competition and the Olympics, just one year before the Olympic Games, which is complicated.”
At this juncture, he prefers not to speculate if the IOC requires the help of professional boxing organizations such as the WBC for the organization of the event, claiming that the Green and Gold has struggled for years to help dignify amateur pugilism.
“We are not going to speculate. We are very busy in professional boxing. To cover global activity in the amateur field, we have input many resources. There are many people participating and happy with what is done, which is to rescue the basic levels of amateurism.”
But it`s imperative that amateur pugilism does not allow professionals in, as occurred in Rio 2016 categorically stressing: “That is disgusting and should not happen ever again! We do not know what the competition rules will be and what will happen. But our position is for pro boxing to remain out of olympic competition . We hope that the athletes can participate and be competing within the framework of a fair format.”
Recent Comments