Lausanne (AFP)

Boxing will be well attended at the Tokyo Olympics but the tournament will not be organized by the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA): this is the meaning of the recommendation made Wednesday by the IOC to address the serious governance problems that are shaking the game. AIBA.

Admittedly, this recommendation still needs to be formally validated by the IOC session in Lausanne in June, but its adoption should only be a formality.

AIBA, created in 1946 on the ruins of the former International Boxing Federation (FIBA), should therefore become the first international federation to be deprived of organizing its own sport at the Olympic Games.

Contacted by AFP, AIBA had not reacted Wednesday night.

The federation based in Lausanne had a time threatened to challenge in court any decision of the IOC that would be unfavorable to him.

Once the suspension of the AIBA confirmed in June, it will be up to the IOC the delicate task of organizing the Olympic boxing tournament as well as the qualifying tournaments.

To this end, a working group is set up, chaired by the Japanese Morinari Watanabe, President of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and IOC member.

- The IOC as organizer -

"I do not remember that such a working group was set up by the IOC, I hope it's the first and the last time," IOC President Thomas Bach told the press.

The IOC Executive Board made this recommendation on the basis of a report by a commission of inquiry chaired by one of its members, Serbian Nenad Lalovic - who is also President of the International Wrestling Federation - who is charged with leading investigation of governance, finance, ethics, anti-doping and arbitration issues affecting AIBA.

"Serious governance issues remain, including breaches of the Olympic Charter and the Code of Ethics on Governance and Ethics, resulting in serious legal, financial and reputation risks for the IOC," says the report. of this commission of inquiry.

"Such an accumulation of risks would justify the suspension of the recognition of AIBA as an international federation by the IOC," the report still considers, the recommendation of which was therefore followed by the IOC.

- Hurry up -

But by the Tokyo Olympics, time is running out. The qualifying tournaments organized in each continent must end in April 2020, two months before the Games and organize such events is not an easy task. The working group will soon have to find partners to help it, including "professional boxing federations".

"We could not anticipate the recommendation of the commission of inquiry," said Bach, "and if we had already started consultations with other partners on how to organize the competition, it could have called into question the work of the commission of inquiry ".

"What matters to the (boxers) is that they know that the tournament will be held, they will have more details after the next meeting of the Executive Board", in June, he added.

The commission of inquiry was created in December by the IOC who then decided to freeze the organization of the boxing tournament for Tokyo-2020. The arrival at the head of AIBA of the controversial Uzbek businessman Gafur Rakhimov, who has since resigned, has further fueled concerns.

AIBA regularly experiences crisis situations. Pakistan's Anwar Chowdhry, president from 1986 to 2006, was suspended for life in 2007 for financial malfeasance. Under his presidency, several judges' decisions during the Olympics were marred by suspicions of corruption, such as the victory of South Korean Park Si-hun against American Roy Jones at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Despite the revelations about the corruption of judges, the American has never recovered his gold medal.

Chowdhry was beaten in 2006 by Taiwan's Ching Kuo Wu, who was forced to resign in November 2017.

Mr Wu's opponents, including Mr Rakhimov, criticized him for poor financial management, which the Taiwanese has always contested. Mr. Wu is still a member of the IOC.

? 2019 AFP