Women's World Boxing Championships: GB Boxing will not compete over Russia concerns
- Published
Great Britain has chosen not to compete at the Women's World Boxing Championships next month over concerns about Russian participation.
The International Boxing Association (IBA) will let Russian and Belarusian boxers compete under their countries' flags in New Delhi.
It contravenes International Olympic Committee (IOC) guidance to exclude athletes from the two nations following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The championships run from 15-25 March.
"Boxers from the GB Boxing squad will not participate in the forthcoming IBA Women's World Boxing Championships in New Delhi," GB Boxing said.
"The decision reflects ongoing concerns about the future of boxing's place on the Olympic programme and the recent move by IBA to allow boxers from Russia and Belarus to compete under their national flags, which contravenes resolutions passed by the IOC in February and December 2022.
"This has put further distance between IBA and the Olympic movement in addition to the significant, longstanding issues over sporting integrity, governance, transparency and financial management which the IOC has asked IBA to address to protect boxing's place on the Olympic programme.
"GB Boxing condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has solidarity with the people, boxers, coaches and officials of Ukraine."
GB Boxing's participation at the IBA Men's World Boxing Championships in May is "under review".
Their decision follows the withdrawals of Ireland and the United States from both the men's and women's worlds last week.
The IBA has been suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 2019 over governance issues and alleged corruption.
Boxing at the Tokyo Olympics was organised by the IOC and will be again for Paris 2024, but beyond that the sport has been left off the initial programme for Los Angeles 2028 as the IBA has refused to implement changes the IOC wants.
GB Boxing will send a team to the European Games in Poland, where the majority of places for the Paris Olympics will be won, which will be held from 21 June until 2 July.
Following the US' decision to boycott, the IBA's Russian president Umar Kremlev criticised the national governing bodies and said his organisation would help boxers from those countries who want to compete.
"This decision doesn't belong to the athletes themselves. Not one of the sports administrators or politicians in the world is entitled to deprive athletes of their dream to become world champions," he said.
"Boxers dedicate their whole life to the sport, while administrators and politicians come to and go. Those, who are doing this to our athletes, are worse than hyenas and jackals - they violate the integrity of sport and culture."
It comes after a summit was held last week to discuss the potential involvement of Russian and Belarusian athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
In January, the IOC said it was "exploring a pathway" for athletes from the two nations to compete as neutrals at next year's Games, a move which has been heavily criticised.
UK culture secretary Lucy Frazer chaired the 36-nation summit on Friday with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky joining to give an opening address.
A collective statement is expected to be agreed in the coming days.
On Tuesday, it was reported that Russian gymnasts and wrestlers have been invited to take part in this year's Asian Games, an opportunity for them to qualify for the Paris Olympics after they were barred from European qualifiers.
Reuters reported that Vasily Titov and Mikhail Mamiashvili, the respective heads of Russia's gymnastics and wrestling federations, told Russian TV they had received invitations for the Games, due to be held in Hangzhou, China from 23 September to 8 October.
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- Published14 January
