MOSCOW: Russian boxers will train as if they will participate in the European qualifiers for the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics, Viktor Far...
MOSCOW: Russian boxers will train as if they will participate in the European qualifiers for the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics, Viktor Farkhutdinov, the head trainer for the Russian national team, told TASS on Monday.
Earlier in the month, Russian boxers competed in the 2023 IBA (International Boxing Association) World Boxing Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The tournament was held between April 30 and May 14.
"We will take a small break now and then we will begin with our training for the Olympics in Paris," Farkhutdinov stated. "It will be up to the governing body to decide on the qualifying groups as there are new weight categories."
"I am sure that we will be allowed to participate and everything will be alright. I believe that we will all be able to listen to the Russian anthem and see the flying of the Russian national flag," Russia’s boxing trainer added.
Earlier in the day, Eduard Kravtsov, chairman of the RBF Coaching Council, announced to TASS that Russian boxers had been invited to compete in the European qualifying tournaments for the upcoming Summer Olympics in France.
"Invitations keep coming. Reportedly, [Albert] Batyrgaziyev has received an invitation to fight in the under-57 kg weight category and [Vsevolod] Shumakov received an invitation as well," Kravtsov stated. "I believe that an invitation was also extended to [2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Muslim] Gadzhimagomedov. The invitations going out are for the qualifiers [in Europe]."
However, Kravtsov noted that it would be much harder for Russian boxers to qualify for the upcoming Olympics via the Asian Games, when compared to qualifiers in Europe, since the level of competition in Asia is much higher.
The 2023 Asian Games are scheduled to be held in Hangzhou, China, from September 23 to October 8 this year. The event was initially scheduled to be held last year at the same venue, but was rescheduled to a later date due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential for it to spread among people traveling to mainland China.
Ban on Russian boxers from international tournaments
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations in February 2022 to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from participating in all continental and global tournaments.
In early March 2022, the International Boxing Association (IBA) barred boxers representing Russia from participating in international sports events. However, on October 5, 2022, the IBA Board of Directors reversed the ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes competing in international competitions.
After Tokyo’s turn hosting the Olympic flame at the 2020 Summer Games, it will travel next to Paris for the Summer Games in 2024, and then to Los Angeles in 2028. In 2021, at the 138th IOC session in Tokyo, Brisbane, Australia, was selected to host the 2032 Summer Olympic Games.
At its session on January 25, 2023, the IOC Executive Board put forward a proposal to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments but only under certain conditions.
Specifically, athletes from the two countries should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status. Russia and Belarus were also banned from participating in international team events
Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) President Stanislav Pozdnyakov called these recommendations absolutely unacceptable as they would lead to a split in Russian sports. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov slammed the IOC’s recommendations as discriminatory.
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