Malta Once Again Joins The AIBA ALIQUAM
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Malta Boxing News
At long last after an absence of more than three years, Maltese boxing has rejoined the AIBA.
Malta has a long and checkered history with the AIBA (International Boxing Association) and Amateur Boxing or Olympic Boxing. The first Maltese Organization to join the AIBA was the ‘Malta Boxing Association’ in 1960. Then in the early seventies the ‘Malta Boxing Federation’ was founded and a huge row erupted between these two bodies, with both sides claiming to be the rightful representatives of the local amateur boxers.
The ‘Malta Boxing Federation’ (MBF) eventually won the day. Boxing in Malta at this time was a bit of hopscotch, you could not really tell were amateur boxing ended and professional boxing started, local boxers literally hoped between the pro & amateur versions of boxing.
Then in the early eighties, the government steeped in to regulate the amateur side of boxing and the MBF was for a time under the auspices of the Ministry of Sport and for a short time boxing in Malta seemed to be recuperating. In 1983, Malta was represented in boxing at the Casablanca Mediterranean Games by Martin Fenech and there were some club tournaments organized with Ireland during this period.
Then boxing literally disappeared from the Malta sport scene and by 1995 Malta had been removed at least twice from the AIBA either for non-payment of fees (100 US dollars per annum at the time)or for failing to observe the regulations.
In 2008 the MBF was once again rejuvenated and by January of 2009 was again part of the AIBA family, for a short time amateur boxing in Malta seemed to be taking off – participation in the Milan AIBA world championships, several wins at international club level, a bronze medal at an AIBA sanctioned event, international club tournaments in Malta and several training camps in Malta, England, Wales and Italy.
The in 2010 Malta once again suffered a huge setback when the newly elected Secretary General Secretary of the MBF Marc James, was publicly asked to remove himself from the AIBA Kazakhstan, General Conference after deciding to join a group of thirteen countries (out of 175) led by the CEO of England’s amateur boxing association (ABAE) Paul King in trying to take over the AIBA leader ship using questionable disruptive tactics. The AIBA President Ching Ku Wu survived the attack and was re-affirmed as the AIBA president by a huge acclamation leaving no doubt about his popularity. Paul King lost his job with the ABAE along with his hefty salary and Malta lost its place in the AIBA family.
Fast-forward to 2013: Malta is once again part of the AIBA family. The question is; has Malta learnt its lesson in obeying the rules? The following videos might just answer that question. This was an event held just days after the MBF were accepted back in the AIBA. My opinion of this event which was held in a school is that the MBF has to do much better than this. The safety level is practically non-existing; certain individuals or clubs officials had no business being present at an event for Children and Youths, connected to the Olympic movement. Perhaps the officials of the MBF mean well but this is not boxing and what is being presented here is not what boxing is all about. You can see a sample of videos for this local event on the next page