International Boxing Association: IOC sanctions are an attack on athletes

Sanctions of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) against the International Boxing Association (IBA) pose a direct threat against athletes and the sport of boxing, on the whole, the IBA said in a statement posted on its official website, Report informs, citing TASS.

"For two years, IBA has been fighting with the system orchestrated by former President of AIBA, Ching-Kuo Wu and his team, trying to clean the house and bring boxing back to the greatness it deserves," the statement reads.

"Now, boxing is under a direct attack, and all IBA stakeholders, its athletes, are ready to stand and defend boxing," the IBA stated.

"We will not accept this artificial divide and conquer rhetoric that somehow the IBA and the athletes are separate, it is simply not true and any attack on the IBA is a direct attack on the stakeholders of our sport, the athletes," the statement said.

"Sanctions towards IBA are sanctions against its boxers, as we are inseparable. There is unity inside the IBA Family, and athletes clearly support how their sport's governing body is improving," the IBA's press office added.