AIBA President emphasises commitment to fairness and transparency in meeting with referees and judges

AIBA President Umar Kremlev held a meeting with referees and judges who have served at the Youth World Boxing Championships in Kielce, Poland.

President Kremlev emphasised AIBA’s commitment to ensuring judging in boxing should be fair and transparent.

‘No one or nothing should influence your work. The best boxers should win. Thank you for your good work at the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships. Work further with all your heart, be in our team. Together we will make our sport great. Boxing is the world’s greatest sport, let’s develop it together. AIBA should not have any outside influence. We are an independent organisation and we have an independent Board of Directors, Committees, Referee & Judges Committee,’ President Kremlev said during the meeting.

The AIBA President added that the Referees & Judges Committee will develop special criteria to choose the best judges, who will participate in the most prestigious and high-profile tournaments. President Kremlev noted that the Board of Directors will never interfere with the work of the Committees, each of them will do its own work independently.

President Kremlev informed the referees and judges that AIBA has solved the issue with its debts. ‘We have serious sponsors, one of the largest is PJSC Gazprom. The plan is to attract more than 100 million dollars during the next two years. This will allow AIBA to support all boxers, coaches and sports officials, and ensure that all educational courses remain free of charge.

‘AIBA always works for the benefit of boxers, National Federations, coaches and for everyone who works within the system. We need to be one united team with joint views striving for a better future of boxing. You can be proud of being one of the best in the world because you are here at the World Championships, but this is a huge responsibility at the same time.

‘Think about boxers, as they are the most important people in our sport. Honest judging is the main principle for us in AIBA. Let’s cooperate as one big boxing family for a better tomorrow,’ President Kremlev added.

Christopher Mark Roberts, the Chair of the Referees & Judges Committee, also attended the meeting, where heunderlined that the main goal for his team is to make boxing transparent.

‘I would like to thank all of you for your great job at the Championships. We have gathered the best referees and judges in the world today. Our committee has been formed and we have many things to work on together. We are planning new courses, including International Technical Official (ITO) courses. We must look at the future development of ITO. Online and offline workshops and special audit processes are already planned. We are working on the creation of a new database. We need to think about the development of professional instructors and staff. Anyone who would like to become an ITO should approach us,’ Mr Roberts said.

‘I am happy and satisfied with the judging at this Championships, with all the decisions made, it was a demonstration of great professionalism. We worked as a united team. Thanks for everything you've done,’ Mr Dragoljub Radovic, Technical Delegate of the tournament added.

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