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 The federation is the latest to leave SportAccord, an organization
representing close to 100 Olympic and non-Olympic sports federations
and organizers of multi-sports games, after SportAccord President
Marius Vizer's scathing attack on the IOC last month.
"We have aimed to create a clear identity for the sport of boxing in
the past 8 years of my presidency," said AIBA chief Ching-Kuo Wu in
a statement.
"Boxing is a noble art and a traditional Olympic sport and we feel
that the participation in the World Combat Games challenges this
identity among boxing fans."
The decision is a further blow to Vizer, who emerged as a
self-styled reformer of international sport when he took over the
SportAccord presidency two years ago.
He instantly clashed with the IOC, proposing the creation of the
United World Championships, a possible competitor to the Olympics, a
project that has not materialized
Vizer, who also heads the international judo federation, said last
month the IOC was dated and in need of serious reform and it should
stop interfering in the autonomy of other sports bodies.
In a heads-on collision Vizer accused the IOC of blocking the
creation of other events and deciding which sports could compete
where, in an unprecedented attack launched in front of the entire
Olympic leadership at the SportAccord convention in Sochi.
"It is with much regret that we suspend our membership with
SportAccord with immediate effect. AIBA’s work is based on the
Olympic values and it is the values of integrity and respect that we
must protect first and foremost," Wu said.
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AIBA had been a member of SportAccord since 1967 and boxing had been
part of the SportAccord World Combat Games in Saint Petersburg in
2013 and Beijing in 2010.
It joins several other federations, including athletics (IAAF) to
withdraw from the organization.
The 2017 World Combat Games, which include sports such as aikido,
fencing, judo, karate, kickboxing, sambo, weightlifting and
wrestling among other, will be held in Lima, Peru.
After AIBA's withdrawal only five of the 16 World Combat Games
sports are Olympic sports.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
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