No boxing, weightlifting in LA Olympics, for now
BOXING and weightlifting are not included in the initial program approved by the International Olympic Committee for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
These two sports, which have provided unprecedented success for Team Philippines in the recent 2020 Olympics held last year in Tokyo, have yet to address reforms demanded by the IOC in their respective federations.
The International Boxing Association is accused of failure in governance and integrity of officiating.
As per the IOC report, an independent investigation of the boxing event in the 2016 Rio Olympics found manipulation of the outcome and matches by officials.
On the other hand, weightlifting has been battling doping issues for years.
In the Tokyo Games, the IOC excluded IBA from officiating the boxing events.
The result was smooth and fair officiating that churned positive results for the Philippine boxing team as it emerged with three medals courtesy of silver winners Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam and bronze medalist Eumir Marcial.
Weightlifting provided the country’s first gold medal in the Olympics with the golden victory of Hidilyn Diaz, making the Philippines the best performing nation among Southeast Asians in the Tokyo Games.
Turning its focus on the young market, the OIC on Tuesday, approved 28 sports, including new sports— skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing. Modern pentathlon was also scrapped.
Earlier, the IOC also excluded IBA from running the affairs of boxing qualifying events and the actual competitions in Paris 2024.
IBA’s degrading integrity in judging of the matches has caused its slow loss of grip on world amateur boxing.
It comes at a time when the World Boxing Council, one of the major professional boxing organizations, is beginning to focus on grassroots development.
It recently launched the WBC Amateur boxing and several countries like Poland have already planned for monthly tournaments.