Umar Kremlev confident AIBA will return to Olympic role in Paris
The HinduThe International Boxing Association's new president is confident his beleaguered organisation will be welcomed back into the Olympic family after the Tokyo Games. Umar Kremlev said at a news conference on Monday in Switzerland that AIBA is implementing the changes necessary to get back in the good graces of the International Olympic Committee, and he still expects the sport's governing body to return to the Olympic fold before the Paris Games in three years. Kremlev and the boxing figures assembled for the news conference spent much of their time criticising the sport's past Olympic judges and referees, who came under scrutiny after a handful of questionable decisions in the 2016 Rio Games. Roy Jones Jr., the American boxer whose scandalous loss in the 1988 Seoul Games is considered the nadir of the Olympic sport, attended the news conference to support Kremlev's reforms. “Even if I get my gold medal, it’s not like I got it at that ceremony, hearing your national anthem being played and knowing you sacrificed nine years for your life, and it was worth it.” AIBA secretary-general István Kovács and Kremlev both mentioned the possibility of moving to yet another scoring system, without providing details.