The first part of the IBA Extraordinary Election Congress featured in the Istanbul Wow Hotel today. The Presidential and the IBA Independent Board of Directors elections were not a point for today’s schedule in the Congress in Istanbul.

The whole meeting started with the opening speech by the IBA President Mr. Umar Kremlev before the negotiation and the official agenda points. It was continued with the welcome speech from Mr. Eyup Gozgec, the President of the Turkish Boxing Federation.

The roll call with the test votes confirmed that 149 delegations sent their representatives to the IBA Extraordinary Election Congress to Istanbul. The delegations approved the previous Congress minutes.

IBA Congress decided to confirm the suspension of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Boxing Federation in December 2021. The same decision was issued with Vanuatu in the same time half year ago and the members extended the suspension of these countries until the next IBA Congress which will be held in December 2022.

The IBA Extraordinary Election Congress continued with the update on the IBA Confederations reforms and the elections. Mr. Tauhiti Nena of French Polynesia, Mr. Pichai Chunhavajira of Thailand, Mr. Jose Laureano of Puerto Rico and Mr. Ioannis Filippatos of Greece were elected as Presidents of OCBC, ASBC, AMBC and EUBC recent months. The AFBC Congress adopted a new Constitution and its Presidential election was postponed to 16 July in 2022 which will be held in Algiers, Algeria.

The IBA Secretary General Mr. Istvan Kovacs of Hungary introduced his SG report which contained the financial support program, the new Olympic Qualification System and several future plans. The venues and the dates of the qualification events will be fixed until the end of the year and the qualification procedure will start from January 2023.

The Interim Nomination Unit appointed to perform eligibility checks for 2022 elections before the Extraordinary Congress. The Board of Directors reduced to 18 members, the AIBA Council abolished, and the previous AIBA Committee reorganised. Restructuring the finances, long-term strategic planning, the sustainable change of the governmental culture are the main changes.

The role of the Secretary General to be elevated to CEO, and great achievement the communication between IBA and IOC began few months ago. Mr. Umar Kremlev, and Mr. Istvan Kovacs replied to the questions of the delegation members. The ratification of the Board decision on 2022 IBA annual affiliation fee was the next part of the discussion in the first day of the Congress. The board decisions which made on January 20 in 2022 were approved by the Congress as the last point in the first day.