Press Conference with executives of the Russian Boxing Federation

Anatoli Bykov, President, Russian Boxing Federation:

"At first I want to talk about why we came here. First the Russia delegation filed a protest about all referees in this tournament.  We did not protest only these four referees (who were dismissed).  Second, we have a problem with the time the tournament is held.  At this time all athletes should rest and not fight."

Q. Is this a problem with all amateur boxing refereeing?

Mr. Bykov:  A.I.B.A. can see clearly from this tournament that refereeing is on a poor level, and disqualifying the referees is not the only remedy. Russian athletes were prepared for this tournament and are very disappointed that they lost their fights in this way.  I would like the refereeing to be more objective to all competitors (on any team).  It's bad to have this kind of problem at such a high-level tournament."

Vladimir Ivanchenko, Vice-President, European Boxing Association, & Executive Committee Member of A.I.B.A.:

"The referee can make a mistake but then blame the computer technology.  If something goes wrong in the tournament, they always blame the computers.  In the future they should go back to using the old style of refereeing (non-computerized). "

Q. Scores are shown only at the end of the bout.  We don't see scores during the bout.  Is this good or bad?

Mr. Bykov:  "Scores should be shown at least at the end of each round, and it is better to show the scores all the time  (as they occur) during the bout.  It would be harder for referees to make such mistakes whenever everyone sees the score (as the bout progresses)."

Q. A couple of coaches from the Russian team have said that the best Russian fighters are not here.  Why didn't you bring the best fighters?

Mr. Bykov:   "We would like to give them a rest because they have (fought at) the World Championships and European Championships.  They are very tired, and we wanted to give younger fighters some experience."

Q. Why was the protest filed so late?

Mr. Bykov:  "It was clear from the semifinals in the 60-kilogram class on July 29 that Russian fighters were eliminated just because of refereeing. We filed oral protests almost every day to a representative of the A.I.B.A., and the president of A.I.B.A. told us that he would do something and tomorrow would be better than today."

Q. The fights are held so late at night because of television.

Mr. Bykov:  "Again, I don't agree with this time (for the competition). Athletes should sleep at this time (of night)."