IOC strips Olympic status from troubled boxing body AIBA

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The IOC has stripped Olympic status from troubled boxing body AIBA and will now organize qualifying and final tournaments for the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Olympic inquiry panel chairman Nenad Lalovic says AIBA created “very serious reputational, legal and financial risks” for the IOC and its American stakeholders.

The election of AIBA president Gafur Rakhimov, who is under United States federal sanctions for suspected links to eastern European organized crime, prodded the IOC last year to investigate boxing’s governance, debts and integrity of Olympic bouts.

International Olympic Committee members voted to endorse the executive board’s recommendation last month to suspend AIBA’s Olympic status.

Lausanne-based AIBA has said it is near bankruptcy with debts of about $17 million and no future income from Tokyo revenues.

AIBA has an emergency meeting scheduled for Thursday in Geneva.