General secretary of the Fiji Amateur Boxing Association, Taitusi Naiduki jetted out to Moscow, Russia this week to attend the 2018 AIBA Congress.

FABA president Manasa Baravilala said Fiji is a financial and voting member and has a good standing.

“This is a critical time in the history of amateur boxing, as it sees itself on the brink of expulsion from the Olympics as a political battle and governance issues threatens the sport exclusion from Tokyo 2020,” he said.

“A litany of corruption scandals in recent years has seen the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) locked in a battle with itself and with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), culminating in the threat that, should current frontrunner Gafur Rakhimov win, the IOC– which has already frozen payments to AIBA– could remove boxing as an Olympic sport ahead of the 2020 Games in Tokyo.”

As it stands, Baravilala says, the only candidate to replace former AIBA president Dr Wu is Rakhimov, an Uzbek businessman whom the United States government has placed under sanctions due to alleged links to organised crime.

Rakhimov was denied a visa to Argentina for the recent Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires and has been barred from Olympic events dating back to the Sydney Games in 2000.

– Edited by Leone Cabenatabua

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