By Treiston Joseph
With the International Boxing Association (AIBA) being run by two factions amidst allegations of financial mismanagement, a special meeting will convene in Guyana on September 10 among the CARICOM heads for boxing, including officials from both factions of AIBA.
Presidents of the various Caribbean boxing associations will be seeking clarity as to which side to support within AIBA; whether to support the IMC-led faction or the faction led by the current President Dr Ching-Kuo Wu.
“Guyana has called for a meeting of all the boxing Presidents of CARICOM countries, because of the fact that there is a certain wrangling in AIBA right now, the organisation has been rocked with accusations of financial mismanagement from the upper echelons and there was a call in Moscow recently for more or less the overthrow of the president… we in this part of the region have not signed onto that,” President of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) Steve Ninvalle revealed to News Room Sport on Tuesday.
Further, Ninvalle dived into the thinking of the Caribbean with regard to the current AIBA situation. “The Caribbean and this is what we want a sense of due process, we cannot be in the Caribbean and say well we’re on this side or that side; we’ll meet pool our ideas and then we will make a decision.”
While Ninvalle noted that representatives of both factions will be in the country for the all important meeting, he pinpointed the possible outcomes of the meeting.
“If all goes well then a decision will be made on who is the rightful authority of AIBA right now, leading to an extraordinary congress where they’re will be a vote on if Dr. Wu should continue or not and then they will have the regular congress next year where another president will be voted in,” he explained.
Ninvalle also noted that while the situation has not affected the Caribbean region as yet the possibility exists, especially from a financial support stand point. Nevertheless, Ninvalle believes that the meeting will aid the Caribbean in understanding the complexity of the situation so as to steer the ship in the right direction.
Both factions have made claims of having the legitimate right to run the sport with the matter already in the Swiss Court with a decision set to be made, according to Ninvalle, “sometime in September”.
