World Boxing chief's clarion call to save Olympic dream

Time is running out for national federations to rally behind World Boxing and help restore the sport in the Olympic programme for the 2028 Games, its president Boris van der Vorst told Reuters.

Federations can keep their loyalty to the International Boxing Association (IBA), which has been stripped of recognition by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and still join World Boxing, he said.

"It is not a competition between World Boxing and IBA. It's about keeping boxing in Olympics," Van der Vorst told Reuters on Sunday on the sidelines of the general assembly of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

"It does not matter for me if a national federation wants to stay in other international federations. It's up to them. But they can still join World Boxing because we allow that.

"It is a transitional period and you have to respect that everyone would be looking for what is in the best interest of their boxers."

The IOC de-recognised IBA last year over its failure to implement governance and finance reforms.

It will decide early next year whether to include the sport on the 2028 programme. The IOC has warned boxing would miss the cut in Los Angeles if national federations failed to appoint a new global body.

World Boxing, launched last year, aims to fill that void and the OCA general assembly was a platform Van der Vorst used to urge the national federations to act fast.

"We have to deliver within a few months and we have to show the IOC that we want to stay in the Olympic movement," he said.

"I hope they understand what's at stake -- the finance of the federations, participation in multi-sport events and, most of all, the Olympic dreams of their own boxers.

"So wake up and work for the future of your own boxers at least."

World Boxing is currently backed by 45 federations but the number would soon increase, the Dutch administrator said.

"We hope to represent everyone in the world of boxing. So we want global representation."

The Asian Boxing Confederation last month decided to stay with the IBA.

Van der Vorst, in his speech at the OCA gathering, promised the continent would have a strong representation in the new body.

"At World Boxing, we guarantee that Asia will get a voice -- in the commissions, in the committees and in the board," he told the delegates on Sunday.