The International Olympic Committee’s Boxing Task Force has decided that scores given by judges will be displayed after every round and the referees and judges who were part of the Rio Olympics would not be eligible to officiate in the Tokyo Olympics or the qualifiers, IOC said in a release.
The above decisions were taken by the Task Force after interacting with various athletes and are aimed at ensuring transparency without impacting the preparation of the boxers ahead of the Olympic qualifiers.
AIBA’s decision to not display scores after every round since 2013 had led to many allegations of corruption with fans also left wondering about the results of some important bouts. India’s Sarita Devi had also protested against the judging when she lost the semi-final bout in the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon against a South Korean boxer.
The IOC has been critical of the International Boxing Federation’s handling of corruption charges by judges during bouts and had decided to strip AIBA of the right to organise the event in Tokyo 2020. Relations between AIBA and the IOC had taken a sharp downward turn following the 2016 Rio Games when 36 officials and referees were suspended amid allegations of bout fixing.
It had then formed a Task Force to decide the rules and regulations for the Olympic qualifiers and the Olympic Games. The continental level qualifiers will now be held in February and March and the final qualifying event will be held in Paris in May.
Explaining the rationale behind the decisions, the Chair of the IOC Boxing Task Force Morinari Watanabe said: “The main objective of the IOC Boxing Task Force is to ensure the completion of the mission of delivering events, while putting the boxers first, and with transparent and credible sporting results and fair play.
“It is only fair to the boxers not to change the fundamental competition rules so close to the Olympic qualifiers and the Olympic competition in Tokyo. The IOC Boxing Task Force has therefore focused on the full review of the rules enforced by AIBA in the current year of 2019, limiting changes which impact on boxers while increasing transparency by displaying the scoring and in the selection process for referees and judges,” he was quoted as saying in the release.