'ACHIEVED MY OBJECTIVE OF RE-INCLUSION IN LA28 ROSTER'

Boris van der Vorst has decided to not contest the elections this time. He feels he has done his job by getting boxing backintothe Olympic fold and that he has nothing to prove anymore. However, he feels that delivering at the LA Olympics will be crucial

- INDRANEEL DAS

HE has been called the saviour of Olympic boxing. He was at the helm when no national federation had dared to join them.

World Boxing president Boris van der Vorst led the breakaway federations (nine to 11 to start with) that eventually sowed the seeds and planted the pillars of the new boxing organisation. He waded through some of the most difficult terrains to bring boxing back into the Olympic fold.

And when all the hard work has been done he has decided to not contest the elections later this month. World Boxing is staring at transition once again. The businessman from the Netherlands worked closely with like-minded people to establish WB and also bring in international federations into its fold from the erstwhile International Boxing Association (IBA). With the IOC threatening to exclude boxing from its LA28 roster, van der Vorst and his team had to work really hard to save boxing.

In an interview from Netherlands, he speaks about his journey and future of WB. He feels in terms of accountability and transparency, a lot still needs to be done. He feels sex determination test is one way for protecting women boxers and more research is required amongst other topics.

Excerpts:

You got most of the national federations in World Boxing, and then the IOC provisional recognition followed. Now you have decided to not continue as president.

What made you take this decision? I think it's important to stress that there were many milestones in the last few years.

The first one was three years ago when I invited like-minded boxing leaders to come to the Netherlands, because Olympic boxing was in deep danger. We were facing a nightmare because boxing was not included in the LA programme. It was absolutely clear, in my opinion, that we needed to set up, create a clean block for boxing, and a new federation and that international federation became World Boxing. I chose a name.