AIBA President says referees and judges who violate rules will be ‘excluded for a lifetime’

The President of the International Boxing Association (AIBA), Umar Kremlev stated that if referees and judges violated the rules put forth by the body, they will be excluded for life. This statement comes after there were allegations that judging was not done fairly ahead of the Asian Championships by both referees and judges.

Kremlev met with referees, judges and the R&J Committee’s head Chris Roberts and promised that there would be ‘zero tolerance’ in this regard. The Russian’s stern statements are set to increase confidence among boxers, several of whom have alleged that rulings have not been fair especially in foreign countries.

Umar Kremlev on the zero tolerance policy

Umar Kramlev spoke to referees and judges and was quoted by Sportstar as saying, “You should be dedicated to strict AIBA rules and never violate it. The strongest should win. If you became AIBA R&J, you defend all athletes and represent the honesty, not one single country. Should I hear about some violation, we will exclude R&J for a lifetime. Today we have to fight for total honesty, we will farewell to all who are not in our team. We will also not allow anyone accuse our R&Js in misjudging.”

Meanwhile, the secretary general of AIBA, Istvan Kovacs also spoke about the same and said, “We have already implemented open scoring, bout review, scoring system will be updated soon. Millions of kids are dreaming to become a champion. You are judging these kids, it is a huge responsibility. We will show zero tolerance, if someone judging not fairly. One mistake can ruin a whole career. We trust you and you can trust us. We have started to write a new chapter of our history.”

AIBA’s referees and judges have been under the scanner after the Rio Olympics when there were a plethora of dodgy decisions, but now they are set to come even more under scrutiny.

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