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≡ WORLD BOXING IS GROWING ≡
Now up to 72 national federations, World Boxing announced that Egypt, Gambia, Kiribati and Grenada have joined up, importantly adding two federations from Africa, which had barely any members previously.
Said World Boxing President Boris van der Vorst (NED):
“It is clear that the only way that boxing will continue to be part of the Olympic Movement is for National Federations to support World Boxing and it is good to see that boxing leaders from all parts of the world recognise this and are applying to join us.”
By area, the 72 members break down as:
● 23: Asia
● 19: Europe
● 18: Americas
● 7: Oceania
● 5: Africa
The addition of Egypt and Gambia as African members, joining Algeria, Madagascar and Nigeria, is critically important not only for balance, but to further attract members. There is no magic number of members that will assure recognition but World Boxing looks to be getting close.
Van der Vorst is feeling confident, telling the Italian news agency ANSA:
“I trust that our federation will be recognized, leading to boxing being reintroduced into the Olympic program. It is important to be able to satisfy all the requests made by the IOC to demonstrate that we are capable of taking care of this sport as an international federation. Losing Olympic recognition would be devastating for boxing.”
He added on X: “We are currently processing new applications from potential members and will keep you updated as soon as possible.”
International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach (GER) has repeatedly said that he wants to have a new federation for boxing in place in 2025, preferably by the end of the first quarter. That conveniently coincides with the 144th IOC Session in Costa Navarino (GRE), to be held from 18-20 March.
For van der Vorst, approval of World Boxing as the IOC-recognized International Federation for the sport will place boxing on the program of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. And then the work really starts.
He explained, “The real challenge will be to develop our sport and we are already exploring modern technologies to make it fairer, also working with artificial intelligence.”
The integration of digital technologies into boxing can include judging, where van der Vorst wants to see a “system that leaves no room for any error.” That would, no doubt, be a first for boxing!
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