Russian boxer Mark Petrovskij (left) and Davit Chalojan from Armenia in a super heavyweight fight at the World Championships in Belgrade on November 5, 2021.
Prague – Czech boxers will miss this year's men's and women's world championships. The management of the domestic association is boycotting the championships because of the approach of the international federation IBA to the boxers of Russia and Belarus, who allow them to compete in their events under the national flags, despite the invasion of Ukraine. Czech Boxing Association (ČBA) President Marek Šimák told ČTK today.
Advertisement'; }
“We gave the same opinion as the Czech Boxing Association before. It bothers us. It's wrong. The association is led by a Russian who has a very close relationship with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, and everything is paid for by Gazprom,” Šimák told ČTK. Radiožurnál Sport was the first to report on CBA's decision.
“The stupid thing is that Europe is small and he (IBA president Umar Kremljov) influences it worldwide with money. The problem is that some countries allow themselves to be bribed,” Šimák said. The IBA Federation has long been criticized for its actions by the International Olympic Committee, and boxing is still in danger of being excluded from the Olympic Games program.
The women's world championship will take place in March in India, the men's in May in Uzbekistan. The national boxing federations of the USA and Ireland have already announced their boycott. However, more countries could be missing from the top tournaments. “We are talking about it, and now the Germans have also joined in, who, when they decide to do something like this, usually have it ready. They know that something needs to be done about the current situation,” Šimák said.
According to In addition, Šimák believes that a new world umbrella organization for amateur boxing will be established in the near future. “There is a lot of talk about it. The new association should be pro-European, anti-Putin. We mainly want to continue with boxing at the Olympic Games,” said the new head of Czech boxing, who replaced Svatopluk Žaček as president last November.
From the Czech point of view, the key event of the coming months will be the European Games in Krakow, where for the first time there will be a fight for participation places at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.
