St Lucia NOC President creates tremor in IOC

Oct 23, 2022 Sports

---

Kaieteur News – The calls, certainly within the Caribbean region, are becoming deafening for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to recognize the legitimacy of the International Boxing Association (IBA) boss Umar Kremlev, as the Saint Lucia Olympic Committee (SLOC) chief Alfred Emmanuel questions the entity’s aversion to the aforesaid Presidency.

Emmanuel’s sentiments, which centred on respecting the will of the majority of IBA’s national associations, were made at the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) General Assembly in Seoul, South Korea. It also follows analogous remarks articulated by Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) President Steve Ninvalle, during an exclusive interview with this publication on October 5th.

The SLOC President’s views were in direct contrast to the unifying call sounded by the IOC President Thomas Bach for National Olympic Committees (NOC) to respect the majority position on discussing the presence of Russia and Belarus.

Emmanuel stated, “Now that we are face-to-face, I believe that it would have been an opportune time to explain to this body the stance taken by the IOC in relation to the sport [boxing]. We have been calling for unity as it relates to the conflict in Ukraine, and at the same time I am not hearing the very same call for unity and respect for the majority when it comes to the boxing situation. I would appreciate, sir, if you could shed a little more light on the boxing situation.”

In response to the query, Bach stated, “The IOC Executive Board will at its next meeting in December [5-7] carefully evaluate the whole situation, taking also into account the recent developments in the Federation during the last Congress they had.”

He further stated, “In particular the fact that there were no elections being held at this Congress, but that there was only a vote not to hold elections. This is a situation we have to carefully look into, the more so that there was in between a decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), so it’s a very complex situation.”

IBA, given their current dilemma, was relieved of participation in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by the IOC. Amongst the concerns cited included governance, refereeing, ethical and financial issues. In particular, the IOC is concerned primarily with the entity’s reliance on Russian energy giant Gazprom.

However, Emmanuel affirmed, “I think that we must respect the will of the majority in boxing.  IBA just had a Congress and the majority said they do not want a new election. So if we come in and are asking NOCs and the world to respect the will of the majority, why is it that the IOC does not want to respect the will of the 106 boxing Federations of the world who said they do not want a new election? I’m just trying to reconcile that.”

IBA President Kremlev remained at the helm of the organization following the conclusion of the Extraordinary Congress in Yerevan, Armenia last month, after attending delegates voted against staging a novel election.

It was an overwhelming victory for the incumbent against Dutch challenger Boris van der Vorst, as 106 voted against that possibility as opposed to 36, with four abstaining. Van der Vorst, who was initially declared ineligible to contest the election in Istanbul in May, successfully won an appeal against the Boxing Independent Integrity Unit’s decision via the Court of Arbitration and Sport (CAS).

The SLOC remained optimistic that boxing, which was removed from the initial programme of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, will feature at the prestigious games.

He expounded, “We know boxing is on in Paris. IBA is insisting that they are meeting the IOC demands. As to whether the IOC in December will say yes you have gone far enough to meet our demands, it’s a wait and see situation. We have to wait until December based on President Bach’s response this morning.”

Meanwhile, Ninvalle, who is a respected member of the IBA fraternity, stated during his return from Armenia, that the congress was conducted in a democratic manner and that the resulting outcome was evident of the entity’s confidence in the leadership of Kremlev. He posited that an election would have resulted in a comparable outcome.

According to Ninvalle, who is also the nation’s Director of Sport, he was elated at the majority support afforded to Kremlev by the eligible nations from the English speaking Caribbean, adding that the benefits of a Kremlev Presidency has already been evident despite its brief duration. This he noted was indicative of the President’s developmental agenda and direction for the discipline.

The former Americas Boxing Association (AMBC) Vice President, said, “We understand that there is some level of opposition to him being president and this may be about nationality because he is a Russian; however, the overwhelming majority has spoken and in a democracy the majority wins. IBA has to choose for IBA and no one else. We are not a colony.”

“How this plays out as against the International Olympic Committee is left to be seen. What is of importance is that [of] the majority. At least that should send the message that there is unprecedented confidence in the leader and the way he has been running the organisation. It was only apposite that we gave him the stamp of approval,” Ninvalle echoed.

He proclaimed that the sport will not perish due to a minority opposing the will of a democratically elected official by a majority, adding, “Necessity is the mother of invention and out of evil cometh good. Regardless of who takes whatever measures, the sport will not die.”

---

---