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Russia’s Umar Kremlev Elected AIBA President with 57.3% vote

 

Russia’s Umar Kremlev has been elected president of the international boxing federation emerging the the first permanent AIBA president since March 2019.

Kremlev who has adopted the slogan “Make AIBA Great Again,” won with 57.3 percent of the vote on the fourth ballot during a virtual congress Saturday attended by 155 national federations.

Kremlev received 86 votes, Boris van der Vorst of the Netherlands garnered 45 and interim president Mohamed Moustahsane of Morocco had 19.

Suleyman Mikayilov of Azerbaijan was eliminated on the second ballot and Anas Al Otaiba, who had the backing of USA Boxing, went out on the third.

Kremlev has an enormous task ahead of him: He must restore boxing to the good graces of the Olympic family while making the organization fiscally sound.

Kremlev, the secretary general of the Russian Boxing Federation, claimed he had at least 30 national federations in his corner.

“Let me make it clear: the path to rebuilding AIBA is not easy,” Kremlev said. “It will not happen overnight. We have to unite together and work with one mission and one mission alone: rebuilding the credibility and trust that AIBA once had in the minds of sports people worldwide and that includes, of course, restoring AIBA’s Olympic status.”

Kremlev said clearing AIBA’s debt, which has been estimated at about $20 million, will be his first priority. He has vowed to achieve this in his first six months.

“My administration will aim to raise $50 million within two years, all of which will be used to rebuild AIBA,” he told the Congress.

He also plans to provide $2 million a year to the national federations and set up boxing academies on each continent.

Kremlev, 38, published an eight-page manifesto and launched a YouTube channel “Umar Kremlev Live.” His offer last year to clear all AIBA debt was rejected.

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Kremlev joins fellow Russian Alisher Usmanov as president of a summer Olympic international federation.

The IOC suspended AIBA in June 2019 after problems involving referees and judges, finance, ethics, doping and governance. This cost AIBA funding from the IOC as well as the right to organize the boxing competition at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

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