The FIFA World Cup in Qatar, being played under constant reminders of the country’s human rights records, is just one of several instances where sport, administration and politics mix without great results.
Another example of a bad mix is an ongoing disagreement between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Association (IBA) that could have detrimental consequences for India and boxers in general. The IOC is critical of boxing’s governing body, which has been tainted with charges of corruption, debts, and has a Russian Umar Kremlev as its leader since 2020. The IOC also finds IBA’s association with sponsor Gazprom, the Russian gas company, troubling besides Kremlev’s connections with Russian President Vladimir Putin, also in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
News agency Reuters reports about the IBA-commissioned independent investigation that was led by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren which exposed bout manipulation at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. Prior to that, a McLaren-led investigation had exposed widespread, state-sponsored doping in Russian sport that led to the country being banned from all international athletics competitions, including the 2016 Olympics, the Reuters report adds.
The football World Cup’s success—or the lack of it—would merit a discussion at the end of the event on 18 December. For the kind of surprising match results it threw up in the group stages of the tournament, Qatar has made for an unpredictable event that’s worked well for Asian teams. But at no point does the conversation around football veer too far from the country’s human rights records, stories of workers dying on stadium sites, the nation’s intolerance over same sex relationships, banning of alcohol near stadiums among others.
But boxing’s troubles have a more direct impact on India. While boxing remains one of the marquee disciplines in the whole gamut of the Olympic Games’ offerings, the conflict between IOC and IBA can cause damage.
The IBA was not involved in the 2020 (pushed to 2021) Tokyo Olympics and boxing is not included in the initial list for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics pending the reforms that the IOC wants in the IBA. Qualifying for the next Games in Paris 2024 is being organised by the IOC, but the Olympic Council seems less inclined to continue doing that beyond Paris, which explains the lack of interest for including the sport in 2028. If going forward the IOC decides to punish the IBA or ostracise it, the impact would be borne by boxers.
For India, in particular, it would be a big blow. For a country that’s only now beginning to spread its wings in events such as the Olympics, boxing is a significant producer of medals.
Three Indians have won boxing medals at the Olympics: Vijender Singh got a bronze in the middleweight (75kg) class at Beijing, 2008. Mary Kom got a bronze as well in the flyweight (51kg) category in 2012 when women’s boxing was first introduced to the Olympics in London. Lovlina Borgohain got the third medal last year in Tokyo in the welterweight (69kg) category. There has been far greater success for boxing in other global events, like the World Championships, Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games.
India’s overall medal hauls at the Olympics have improved over the last few editions since 2008 when Abhinav Bindra got the first individual gold medal in shooting. Boxing, shooting and wrestling have been some of the major contributors to the medals India has won in multi-discipline international events.
The Birmingham Commonwealth Games of 2022 excluded shooting and archery, which impacted India’s overall tally. While shooting will come back for the 2026 edition in Victoria, Australia, wrestling and archery have been excluded there. In the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, Indian shooters got 16 medals while in the Birmingham edition four years later, wrestlers got 12 medals, which gives an indication of how much success the country has had in these sports. In Birmingham, the disciplines that got India the most number of medals were wrestling (12), weightlifting (10), athletics (8) and boxing (7) in the absence of shooting.
Whether or not boxing makes it to Los Angeles in 2028, it presents some challenges in Paris before that. The IOC has increased the number of weight categories for 2024, from Tokyo’s five to Paris’ six, which means some boxers would have to adjust their weights. Borgohain, for example, won a medal in the 69kg category in Tokyo but will have to switch to either the 66kg or 75kg in two years.
Indian sportspeople are used to poor administration and the hassles they provide. It’s more likely that the IOC and IBA will find a solution or compromise soon, but for a lot of athletes who dream of participating in the Olympics, which comes once in four years and provides limited opportunities in an athletes’ short career span, any ban or absence from the event can be heart-breaking. It’s also the reason that players, fans and stakeholders, even if critical of Qatar’s politics, have showed up to participate in the 2022 football World Cup. Because politics and morality sometimes have to take the backseat to sporting ambition.
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