President of the Boxing Federation of Ukraine and vice-president of the IBA Volodymyr Prodivus criticized the decision of the International Boxing Federation (IBA) to return representatives of Russia and Belarus to the competition.
“I am outraged by today's decision of the International Boxing Federation (IBA) to lift sanctions against athletes from Russia and Belarus. Now they will be able to participate in competitions, perform under their own flags.
This is a completely unacceptable decision, and it was made in secret. I will demand a repeated, but already open vote. I want to personally look into the eyes of all those members of the IBA Board of Directors who will go against their conscience.
I have repeatedly said that the principle of “sport is out of politics” does not apply here. What Russian and Belarusian troops are doing in Ukraine is genocide and massacres. And not a single athlete from these countries has publicly condemned the crimes of their countries. This is also a position.
We definitely cannot allow aggressor athletes to participate in international tournaments while hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are defending the civilized world from the agony of dictators. If the IBA leadership does not understand this, I will do my best to make everything clear to them, ”said Prodivus.
It should be reminded that the Board of Directors of the International Boxing Association allowed boxers from Russia and Belarus to compete under the auspices of the IBA.
