The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed the appeal filed by the International Boxing Association against the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) withdrawing recognition of IBA as the international federation for the sport of boxing.
The CAS verdict that effectively counted out IBA from having control and supervision over the 2024 Paris Olympics boxing competition, among other international events, was handed down from the CAS headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland on Tuesday, April 2.
The development could pave the way for the full emergence of World Boxing, of which Ricky Vargas, chairman of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines, is a member of the Executive Board, as the duly IOC-recognized international federation for boxing.
“World Boxing (WB) welcomes the decision by CAS to revoke the recognition of the International Boxing Association (IBA) and the subsequent comments made by the IOC stating that it wishes to work with a new International Federation,” the organization commented in a statement.
“This is the last remaining hope for the sport to maintain its Olympic status beyond Paris 2024. There is no alternative,” World Boxing added.
Vargas is encouraging other national federations to register with World Boxing, to which ABAP has aligned with from the start.
“The CAS and IOC have spoken—a new international federation that conforms to the ideals and goals of IOC is needed to fill the void and make sure boxing remains with the Olympics from Paris onward,” said Vargas.
“ABAP has foreseen this development and firmly believes in the capability and integrity of World Boxing to accomplish the task of running international boxing according to IOC standards—competently, fairly and inclusively. A rare opportunity to put order back in chaos has been presented. All national boxing federations ought to seize the moment.”
According to the CAS media release, “In its final award, the CAS Panel noted that, as at the date of the Appealed Decision, the IBA had not complied with the conditions set down by the IOC for recognition, namely:
a. The IBA had not increased its financial transparency and sustainability including through diversification of revenues.
b. The IBA had not changed its process relating to referees and judges to ensure its integrity, including a monitoring period for IBA’s own competitions ahead of the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
c. The IBA had not ensured the full and effective implementation of all the measures proposed by the “Governance Reform Group” established by the IOC, including a change of culture.”
As a consequence, the CAS said, it has “determined that these three elements justified the IOC Session’s decision to withdraw recognition of the IBA and emphasized that the IOC’s right to control the circumstances in and the conditions on which it confers recognition outweighed the IBA’s personality rights.”
IBA’s plight came under scrutiny shortly after the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 where the IOC “requested the IBA to undertake various measures to address serious concerns related to its governance and financial stability. Such process included the implementation of a roadmap, recommended by the IOC to the IBA in December 2021, in order to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the IOC Executive Board that the IBA had successfully addressed ongoing areas of concerns ahead of the IOC Session in 2023 where the inclusion of boxing in the Olympic program would be discussed.”
When IBA failed to comply, the IOC EB recommended the withdrawal of IOC’s recognition of IBA as world governing body for amateur boxing in June 7, 2023, which the IOC Session enforced two weeks later.
Immediately, IBA filed an appeal with CAS, seeking to have the decision “annulled and set aside in full.”
A CAS Panel was constituted to handle the matter and heard both parties and their legal representatives on Nov. 16 in Lausanne.
In its official website, the IOC welcomed the CAS decision.
Having organized Olympic boxing in the Tokyo 2020 Games, the IOC will also oversee boxing in the Paris Olympiad “to protect the sport of boxing and its athletes, and because of the universality and high social inclusivity of boxing” as a continued feature on the program of the Olympic Games.
But the IOC made it clear it could be hands-off for them in the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, urging the “National Boxing Federations and their National Olympic Committees to establish a federation which respects IOC’s conditions for recognition, which include good governance, integrity of competitions, transparency of finances and accounts, and autonomy.”
It added, seen as a nod toward World Boxing, “The NOCs and National Boxing Federations hold the future of Olympic boxing in their own hands, and the required actions cannot be clearer.”
Reports said IBA may be mulling to elevate the matter to the Swiss Federal Tribunal.
