Rakhimov quits as head of amateur boxing body

LAUSANNE: Gafur Rakhimov stepped down as head of the AIBA, world amateur boxing’s governing body, on Friday amid a spat with the International Olympic Committee that could see the sport kicked out of the 2020 Tokyo Games.

The Uzbek businessman has been engulfed in controversy since he was elected in November because the US Treasury Department has linked him to “transnational criminal organisations”, a charge he vehemently denies. Rakhimov said that under his leadership “the work done this last year has revitalised and energised AIBA and boxing”.

“However, despite these efforts, there have been many discussions these last few months about the future of Olympic boxing. A lot of that was mainly focused on politics and not sport.