Aiba confirms willingness to guarantee transparency

Havana, December 13 (JIT)-- The president of the International Boxing Association (Aiba), Umar Kremlev, assured that that institution is committed to the analysis and implementation of the recommendations resulting from an investigation that makes an "x-ray" of its problems.

Kremlev's statements followed the publication of the latest report of the working group headed by Professor Richard McLaren, which crudely criticizes the Rio 2016 Olympic tournament and offers other assessments on more recent lides.

"Aiba is on the right track in terms of sporting integrity, but still needs to make much more progress. To help achieve this, we will continue to call on independent experts," said the head of Aiba.

"For Aiba, these are the general lessons that emerge from Professor McLaren's work," said Kremlev, who praised the articulation of regulations, processes, people and culture as contributing to the purpose of ensuring transparency in all areas.

A couple of days after the International Olympic Committee announced that boxing's entry to the Los Angeles 2028 event will be decided in 2023, Professor McLaren's team considered that the Rio de Janeiro 2016 competition hosted rigged results.

Although there were expulsions, the report assures that "corruption and manipulation continued" and left a mark that has had expressions in the 2017 senior world championships and for juniors, organized in April this year in Kielce, Poland.

The Aiba has insisted that the professor himself is aware of its commitment to keep officials involved in questionable practices out.

"Integrity officials will now carefully examine the scope for further exclusions based on the report's findings," the body maintained.

"At the recent world championships, Professor McLaren and his team were on hand to participate in new initiatives to ensure that fights are refereed and judged fairly," Kremlev recalled.

"Officials we could not have full confidence in were excluded. They have no place in boxing," he pointed out before declaring himself "grateful for the professor's recognition that the world championships were a break with the past and a sign of a better future."