The International Testing Agency (ITA) will now handle all anti-doping activities for the International Boxing Association (IBA). The renewed partnership comes at an important time for the IBA, with the organization’s mind on potential Olympics exclusion come the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
It was announced late last year by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that boxing, along with modern pentathlon and weightlifting, had been left off the initial sports program for the LA28 Summer Olympics. However, all three sports were given criteria for potential reinstatement by the IOC.
For boxing, the IOC outlined that the “AIBA [IBA] must demonstrate that it has successfully addressed the ongoing concerns around its governance, its financial transparency and sustainability, and the integrity of its refereeing and judging processes.”
While reforms to boxing’s anti-doping systems wasn’t one of the criteria explicitly outlined by the IOC, an independent and effective anti-doping system would likely aid in cleaning up the sport’s tattered image.
Under the renewed agreement, the ITA will resume their activities within the IBA. This includes testing, intelligence gathering, test distribution planning, education, Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) handling, as well as result management and the handling of anti-doping rule violations.
The renewed agreement has also expanded the scope of the ITA’s activities, which now also include in-competition testing, long-term sample storage, intelligence and investigations, and source handling.
Both the ITA and IBA have stated that they will observe a strict adherence to the World Anti-Doping Code as set forth by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
ITA Director General Benjamin Cohen, commented on the renewed agreement, stating, “by entrusting the full range of its anti-doping program to us at the ITA, we hope in turn that we can enable IBA to focus fully on its core mission of developing boxing, in a transparent manner, worthy of wider trust.”
He added, “We look forward to continuing to provide IBA and boxers with our expertise and are fully committed to supporting IBA in its fight against doping.”
IBA President Umar Kremlev stated, “through its work with many sports, the ITA has shown the usefulness of bringing in independent experts to help ensure sporting integrity.”
“At IBA, we are committed to this approach. It is our duty to protect our athletes and reinforce the values of clean sport in boxing. Continuing our work with the ITA will ensure we do exactly that.”
The IBA also vowed to work towards a better future for boxing; a future that, the beleaguered organization hopes, will include boxing’s reintroduction on the Olympic sports program in time for the 2028 Summer Olympics.
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