Berlin, Aug 24, (dpa/GNA) – The German Boxing Association (DBV), has been admitted to the World Boxing organization, along with five other national federations, the recently created international association said on Thursday.
With the inclusion of Germany, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Sweden and Honduras, the new organization has a total of 12 members.
“The intention of our federation from the beginning, was to secure boxing in the Olympics permanently. The only way to convince the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of this, is to make a fresh start with a new federation,” DBV sporting director Michael Müller told dpa.
World Boxing has recently been set up, to ensure the sport’s Olympic future, after the IOC suspended the International Boxing Association (IBA) in 2019, over various issues including governance, finances, transparency, refereeing and judging.
The IBA was then excluded from the IOC ranks, following a vote at a virtual extraordinary session in June.
Boxing at the Tokyo Games in 2021 was run by an IOC task force, and the same is planned for the Paris Games, while the sport is not on the provisional programme for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
The IOC, plans to discuss official recognition of World Boxing at its session in mid-October.
The boxing federations of the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Britain, England and the Netherlands, were confirmed as World Boxing’s first cohort of members in early August, 2023.
“World Boxing continues to attract high calibre national federations, that want to emulate our principles and endorse our policies, to put the boxers first and operate with rigorous governance practices,” World Boxing secretary general Simon Toulson said.
GNA