World Boxing has increased its membership to 84 countries with China and Turkey, whose boxers won medals at last year’s Paris Olympics, among the latest six to sign up.
The International Olympic Committee last month granted provisional recognition to World Boxing, which was launched in 2023, in a major step toward boxing featuring at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The IOC stripped the International Boxing Association of recognition in 2023 over its failure to implement reforms on governance and finance.
China finished second in the boxing medals table in Paris with three golds and two silvers. Turkey was eighth, equal with France, with two silvers and a bronze.
The other countries announced in the latest batch Wednesday were Sudan, Greece, Montenegro and Slovakia.
“The addition of six more members to our ever-increasing membership is further evidence of the widespread support that exists across our sport for the work that World Boxing is doing to deliver a better future for boxers and ensure that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement,” World Boxing president Boris Van Der Vorst said.
With China in the fold, World Boxing now has a robust Asian membership that includes about two dozen members, including Uzbekistan, the most powerful boxing nation in recent Olympics after winning five gold medals in Paris.
Boxing still is not officially on the program for the Los Angeles Games, but Kazakh boxing superstar Gennadiy Golovkin is heading a World Boxing commission to cement the body’s future in the Olympic movement. The IOC ran the past two Olympic boxing tournaments but has repeatedly said a new governing body must run future tournaments if boxing stays on the program.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
