IOC has to go through us for any Olympic qualifiers: IBA President Umer Kremlev

New Delhi: The conflict between International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Boxing Association (IBA) is clearly evident with IBA welcoming Russian and Belarusian athletes for the first time to a major tournament in the Women's Boxing World Championships, New Delhi since the eruption of the Ukraine war last year.

In return, the IOC has decided to not recognize the tournament as Olympic qualifiers and has announced a separate qualifying event for Paris 2024 Olympics.

"IBA is the apex council of boxing and for any qualifying event, IOC should go through us as IBA will be responsible for Olympic qualifiers. Any qualifier needs to be organized by the rules of IBA and I hope IOC cooperates," IBA President Umer Kremlev said ahead of the 2023 Women's World Boxing Championships.

Kremlev, who is in India for the global tournament came down heavily on the IOC.

He said, "We don't ask or advise IOC about how to conduct the Olympics. IOC and IBA need to cooperate and avoid conflict for the development of boxing. IBA is one of strongest associations in the world and we are working towards developing the sport."

The IBA had earlier declared women's and men's World Championships in New Delhi and Tashkent respectively will be the "main qualification events" for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

But the IOC has since rejected IBA's claim and announced qualifiers will be conducted separately, raising confusion amongst athletes and fans.

Despite the ongoing conflict, IOC has sent a group of observers led by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to Delhi to evaluate the World Championship.

"IOC is sending a team which will review the competition and I think we all should combine for the development of the game. I am confident that the PwC team will see first-hand IBA’s best practices regarding technical and competition rules," said IBA President.

Since he was elected President of IBA, Kremlev has been in constant tussle with the IOC questioning his election and his decisions to move all major IBA operations to Russia.

The IOC's executive board had in December last year decided against lifting the suspension on the IBA due to concerns around its governance, financial transparency and sustainability, and the integrity of refereeing and judging processes.

While other questions on the same matter went unanswered, the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) President Ajay Singh said, "This boxing world championship is a celebration of champions and we have fighters from across the world. We expect superb competition for the next 10 days."

From the 16th of March, pugilists from across the globe will fight in the ring for the title of 'World Champion' in New Delhi.