Lausanne: Three dozen boxing referees and judges who officiated at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics have been barred from working at further world-level events until an investigation is completed.
The international boxing association said Thursday the 36 referees and judges should be ineligible to officiate at events it organises. AIBA’s youth world championships will be held next month in St. Petersburg, Russia, but the association has no senior world championships scheduled in the next year.
The integrity of AIBA, its officials and scoring system were questioned in Rio. During the games, AIBA president C.K. Wu responded to the criticism by reassigning his executive director to other duties.
AIBA has not detailed how many Olympic officials were sent home over “less than a handful” of unsatisfactory fight decisions.
Disputed bouts included fighters from Ireland, Kazakhstan and the United States losing to opponents from Russia and Uzbekistan.
However, some judges at those bouts continued to work in Rio.
After the Olympics, AIBA said it sent cases of some officials and member federations to its disciplinary commission. No details were given of how many referees and judges were affected, or a timetable for possible sanctions.
On Thursday, AIBA said it was looking to disband its system of certifying referees and judges for top championships.
In a further proposed change, AIBA will look to “instill greater transparency” by picking referees and judges for bouts in an automated draw instead of selection by a three-member draw commission.
Current AIBA rules have five judges scoring each fight, but a computer randomly throws out two of the scores. An open and transparent five-judge system is now being considered.
