Crisis-hit boxing federation faces Tokyo verdict

The International Olympic Committee was poised to decide Wednesday on whether to strip amateur boxing's crisis-hit governing body of the right to organise the event at Tokyo 2020.

The verdict to be delivered by IOC president Thomas Bach comes after an investigation into the International Boxing Federation (AIBA), which has faced allegations of serious mismanagement.

Formed in 1946, AIBA has overseen decades of signature Olympic moments, notably the 1960 gold medal win in Rome by Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali.

But relations between AIBA and the IOC took a sharp downward turn following the 2016 Rio Games, when 36 officials and referees were suspended amid allegations of bout fixing.

An internal investigation by AIBA raised deeper questions about the judging in Rio, with particular suspicion falling on a French official.

Then in 2017, AIBA executives forced out the body's president C.K. Wu, amid claims of multi-million dollar accounting fraud.

Wu, a Taiwanese national, denied wrongdoing and remains a member of the IOC, an indication that he retains the support of senior Olympic officials.

Wu was ultimately replaced by the controversial Uzbek businessman Gafur Rakhimov, who the US Treasury Department has linked to "transnational criminal organisations".

Rakhimov vehemently rejects such charges and insists the allegations against him are "politically motivated lies".

Rakhimov stepped down in March, while the IOC audit into AIBA's affairs was ongoing.

He was replaced as interim president by Moroccan doctor Mohamed Moustahsane -- the fourth head of AIBA in 18 months.

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