New Delhi: Swiss Boxing, Switzerland's boxing federation, has announced its decision to quit International Boxing Association (IBA) with immediate effect to join the newly-formed World Boxing Association.
Swiss Boxing has ended its membership citing the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision to strip the IBA of the right to host the boxing competition at the Olympic Games 2024 in Paris, including qualifying competitions.
The announcement comes 10 days after the IBA suspended four national federations -- New Zealand, Germany, Netherlands and Sweden, due to their participation in a World Boxing. "The Swiss Boxing Association Council has decided to withdraw from the International Boxing Association (IBA) with immediate effect and to join the new World Boxing Association. This resolution has immediate effect, but is subject to subsequent approval by the delegates' meeting," the Swiss Boxing statement read.
Switzerland is among countries that boycotted IBA events earlier this year over its decision to allow Russian and Belarusian boxers to compete.
"The reason for this is the announcement by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that the IBA - formerly AIBA - will withdraw the hosting of the Olympic boxing competition for the Olympic Games 2024 in Paris, including qualifying competitions. The reason for this is massive allegations of corruption and breaches of ethics," the statement further read.
Earlier this year, the group of countries including the USA and Britain announced the formation of a new organization called 'World Boxing' hoping to ensure the sport's continuation in the Olympic programme.
Switzerland have become the second National Federation to officially announce its resignation from IBA after the USA to join the newly-formed boxing body.
USA Boxing revoked its 77-year membership in IBA in April this year, hence, depriving their athletes, coaches, and officials of taking part in any events organised by IBA and affiliated members.
However, IBA acknowledged the intention of the Swiss Boxing Council to terminate the relationship with the IBA immediately.
"It is with deep regret that the International Boxing Association (IBA) confirms receipt of the resignation of Swiss Boxing as of June 1, 2023. The decision can only come into force at Swiss Boxing's next General Assembly where its Statutes will be amended to reflect this," IBA said.
IBA also said that Swiss Boxing violated their Statutes by involving politics in sport, specifically, Article 4 which stated that "Swiss Boxing is politically and denominationally neutral."
The IBA has been suspended by International Olympic Committee (IOC) over its governance and other issues since 2019. This led to IOC administering boxing at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 directly and is managing the qualifiers for the 2024 Paris Olympics as well. It is uncertain that boxing will feature in the 2028 Summer Olympic Games as the sport has been left off from the initial programme list of the Los Angeles Olympics.—IANS