Eight countries boycott World Boxing Championships in India

The inclusion of Russian and Belarusian boxers and the permit to compete with national flags and anthems have made these nations unhappy.

IBA World Women’s Boxing Championships is set to be held from 15-31 March 2023 in New Delhi, India. There are several countries which have announced their boycott due to the inclusion of Russian and Belarusian boxers at the event. The United States of America was one of the first countries to boycott the event. A total of eight countries (USA, Ireland, Britain, Sweden, Canada, Czech Republic, Switzerland, and the Netherlands) as of now have confirmed their boycott.

The International Olympic Committee’s qualifying process for boxing at next year’s Paris Games is unacceptable and must recognise world championships that some countries are boycotting, the governing IBA said on Monday (as per Sportstar). IBA decided to allow boxers from Russia and Belarus to compete with national flags and anthems, despite the war in Ukraine and against IOC guidance last November.

Further, most of the countries have also expressed to boycott the Men’s World Boxing Championships as well which is set to be held in Uzbekistan in May 2023. As stated by  Reuters, athletes from 77 nations had confirmed their participation at the March 15-26 women's tournament.

Both IBA (International Boxing Association) and IOC (International Olympic Committee) have been at loggerheads for the past few years. The IBA was stripped of involvement in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the qualifying events for Paris 2024 are being organised by the IOC. A qualifying system was approved by the IOC last September which established a direct qualification through regional multi-sport competitions - the Pan-American Games, European Games, Pacific Games, Asian Games and an African event.

Umar Kremlev from Russia is the current president of IBA and was elected unopposed in May last year. Gazprom which is Russia’s state state-controlled energy giant is IBA’s biggest sponsor.