The women’s World Amateur Boxing Championships scheduled for Istanbul next month have been postponed due to the spike in Covid-19 cases worldwide.
In a letter sent today to all national federations, AIBA secretary general Istvan Kovacs states that the organisation’s Board of Directors and the Turkish National Federation had decided to postpone the event until possibly March 2022.
At a press conference in Belgrade last Friday it was revealed that the AIBA were seeking the views of national federations before making a final decision.
The letter states: “Thank you for replying to our email and providing the necessary information about your possibilities and/or potential restrictions to attending the women’s World championships in Istanbul, scheduled from the 4th to 19th December 2021.
“Whilst AIBA has been working hard to maintain the schedule the feedback received is that too many National Federations are facing difficult situations and restrictions within their countries. Regrettably, the Covid situation is too difficult at present.
“We are aware that some teams have already started preparations for this event and will be disappointed. However, please understand that the safety and wellbeing of our athletes, officials and other stakeholders is priority, and therefore we cannot take the risk to proceed with the event,” states the letter.
Turkey is reporting 28,262 new Covid-19 infections on average every day which is considerably lower than the 42,551 it reported during its peak in April 2020. There have been over 8.2m infections in total in Turkey and 72,279 coronavirus-related deaths reported since the pandemic began.
The Irish squad including Olympic gold medallist Kellie Harrington had commenced their countdown to the championships and attended a training camp in Sheffield last week. But for now they they will have to put their preparations on ice.
–independent.ie.com
