Olympic boxing row as judges who ‘failed integrity tests’ officiate | Boxing | Sport

Another boxing row has broken out at the Olympics after two judges who reportedly failed ‘integrity tests’ have been involved in bouts. Emil Gurbanaliyev and Sergei Krutasov have officiated more than 20 contests in Paris, three years after they were removed from the AIBA World Championships in Serbia.

Gurbanaliyev and Krutasov, from Azerbaijan and Russia respectively, were both selected as technical officials by the 2024 Paris Boxing Unit (PBU) for the Games.

That followed the AIBA being stripped of its recognition last year amid discrepancies over its finances, governance, ethics, refereeing and judging.

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The Times have reported that both men were randomly selected for integrity testing by Professor Richard McLaren, who exposed state-sponsored doping in Russia, in October 2021. Both Gurbanaliyev and Krutasov caused concern with their answers in the tests, leading to them being stood down from the world championships.

However, the IOC claimed it was not privy to McLaren’s findings. They have also confirmed that both judges have passed the committee’s own background checks and vetting processes.

Between them, the pair have ruled on more than 20 bouts in Paris, over various weight categories. And they both formed part of the five-person panel that controversially ruled Ireland’s Daina Moorehouse had lost to France’s Wassila Lkhadiri on Thursday.

“I don’t know what the judges were looking at,” Moorehouse said afterwards. Neither however, played a role in the four first-round defeats suffered by British boxers, which prompted fury from Team GB bosses.

McLaren himself was quoted as saying: “We have a tool called Protect Sport that works using voice analytics. Emil Gurbanaliyev was tested in October 2021 in Belgrade and he returned three high-risk scores to pertinent questions we asked about match manipulation.

“We use that tool and then follow up by questioning the person. We weren’t satisfied with his responses and he was stood down from those World Championships.

“Sergei Krutasov was also tested. I was present and saw this going on. He also rated high risk on all three responses to our questions.”

The row is the latest controversy to plague the boxing at the summer Games. Organisers have been dealing with the intense fallout of allowing two females to participate, despite them previously being barred from competing for having elevated levels of testosterone.