The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday granted provisional recognition to World Boxing in a major step towards the sport’s inclusion in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Boxing’s survival as an Olympic sport was under threat since the IOC stripped the International Boxing Association (IBA) of its membership in April 2023 over governance and officiating issues.
The boxing competition at the last two Olympics – Tokyo and Paris – was organised by the IOC.
The IOC has not included the sport on the LA 2028 programme yet, having urged national boxing federations to create a new global boxing body or risk missing out on the Olympics in three years’ time.
World Boxing was launched in 2023 and has now 78 members across five continents.
“The (IOC) assessment concluded that World Boxing has continued to make progress regarding the identified areas of consideration in order to be recommended for IOC Provisional Recognition as the IF within the Olympic Movement governing the sport of boxing at world level,” the IOC said in a statement.
The Olympic body said World Boxing had met several key criteria to merit provisional recognition.
Among them were sufficient members across five continents, application of the sports integrity process implemented during the Paris Games, including with independent oversight and good governance structures, as well as assurances on revenues and signing up to the World Anti-Doping Code.
India joined World Boxing last year before the Paris Olympics.
The recognition, even though it is still provisional, means the sport can now push towards its Olympic inclusion in 2028.
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Following the IOC announcement, Van der Vorst said in a statement: “This is a very significant day for everyone connected with the sport of boxing in the Olympic movement. Keeping its place at the Olympics is absolutely critical to the future of our sport at every level, from the grassroots to the highest echelons of professional boxing, and this decision by the IOC takes us one step closer to our objective of seeing boxing restored to the Olympic programme.”
