An Olympic boxing qualifier, which was cancelled in China following the outbreak of a deadly virus that has claimed 26 lives, will be held instead in Jordan, officials said Friday.
The International Olympic Committee’s Boxing Task Force announced that the Asian/Oceania qualifying event for this summer’s Tokyo Olympics will be held in Amman from March 3-11.
“The event, originally planned to take place in Wuhan, China, from February 3-14, was rescheduled after the joint decision by the BTF and the Chinese Olympic Committee to cancel the competition due to the developments regarding the coronavirus outbreak reported in the Chinese city,” said an IOC statement.
“After a careful review of all alternatives, the BTF approved the proposal of the Jordan Olympic Committee today, in order to confirm the competition dates and location as soon as possible, in the best interest of the athletes preparing for the qualifier.”
The Boxing Federation of India also offered to host the event after it was cancelled in Wuhan. BFI president Ajay Singh had written to BTF expressing India’s desire to conduct the event.
Boxing was almost excluded from the 2020 Olympic programme after a series of scandals.
The amateur boxing body AIBA was stripped of the right to organise the Olympic competition and replaced with the special task force.
Wuhan was also supposed to host China, Taiwan, Thailand and Australia for the Group B Asian women’s football qualifiers from February 3-9.
However, the tournament will now be held on the same dates in the eastern city of Nanjing.
(With AFP inputs)
