The Executive Board of World Boxing has approved membership applications from the National Federations for boxing in Egypt, Gambia, Kiribati and Grenada, to take its membership to 72 countries.
The addition of Egypt and Gambia grows World Boxing’s footprint in Africa. The approval of Kiribati’s application means it now has seven members in Oceania.
All of the new National Federations have completed a rigorous application process to join World Boxing. They are deemed to be in good standing and, through their statutes and operating processes, able to demonstrate:
- A transparent and open election process for the appointment of office bearing roles
- The existence and operation of WADA-recognised anti-doping polices and processes
- Evidence of a structured, dispute resolution and appeals process that is either fully independent or subject to external input
- Formal recognition by either their National Olympic Committee (NOC) or Ministry for Sport
- A solid national and international boxing sports programme
The President of World Boxing, Boris van der Vorst, said: “The approval of four more applications is a sign of the continued progress of World Boxing and the widespread desire for change that exists across the sport.
“It is clear that the only way that boxing will continue to be part of the Olympic Movement is for National Federations to support World Boxing and it is good to see that boxing leaders from all parts of the world recognise this and are applying to join us.
“We are continuing to process applications from National Federations across the world I urge all boxing leaders that want to ensure their boxers to have the opportunity to compete at a future Olympic Games to seek to be part of World Boxing.”
A full list of the 72 National Federations that are members of World Boxing can be viewed HERE.
World Boxing was launched in April 2023 and is committed to ensuring that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement.
On 7 May 2024, it held its first formal meeting with the IOC which signalled the start of collaboration aimed at establishing a pathway for boxing to remain in the Olympic Games.
On 26 September 2024, World Boxing announced that it had set-up an Olympic Commission, chaired by the President of the National Olympic Committee of Kazakhstan, Gennadiy Golovkin, to support and assist the process of developing a pathway to ensuring that boxing is restored to the Games.