27-09-2011 10:00:50

Azerbaijan rebuffs boxing bribe claims (UPDATED)

The world boxing championships opened in Baku on Monday amid official fury at claims that multi-million dollar bribes were paid to ensure gold medals for Azerbaijani fighters at the 2012 Olympics, AFP reported.

The ex-Soviet state's powerful emergency situations minister, who also heads Azerbaijan's boxing federation, told local media on the eve of the tournament that the corruption allegations raised in a BBC television programme were lies.

"It is wrong to disseminate news based on false information to the international community and the people who organised it must be held responsible," Kamaladdin Heydarov told the apasport.az website.

An investigation by BBC's Newsnight programme alleged that $9 million was paid by an Azerbaijani national to organisers of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA)'s World Series of Boxing (WSB).

The money was allegedly paid to secure gold medals for Azerbaijani fighters competing at next year's Olympics.

But Heydarov said that the claims could easily be disproved.

"AIBA and Azerbaijan's boxing federation have the facts to prove the defamatory nature of this information," he said.

AIBA president Wu Ching-Kuo has also rejected the allegations as "totally untrue and ludicrous" but confirmed that the organisation would launch an investigation.

"I will immediately conduct an investigation into this because there is a zero-tolerance policy in AIBA," Wu said last week.

Azerbaijan Boxing Federation (ABF) has dismissed the allegations as well.

“These accusations are a blatant lie. People who know enough about sports, boxing and Olympics events could not have circulated such reports,” ABF Vice-President Agajan Abiyev said.

Abiyev said those who circulated the reports are “enemies” of the AIBA president and Azerbaijan.

He said they are trying to sully Ching-Kuo Wu and the reports stem from “a biased stance” against the association chief.

“Azerbaijan is a rather small country but it conducts all sports events at the highest level,” Abiyev said. “Such hostile reports are being spread by countries that covet our success, including Armenia.”

Olympic boxing has long battled allegations of corruption and questions over its scoring system.

The world championships, the first Olympic qualifying event for boxing, are being seen as a major event in Azerbaijan, an energy-rich state seeking to boost its international profile.

TAGS: World boxing championships, Baku, gold medals, Azerbaijan, 2012 Olympics, Kamaladdin Heydarov, International Amateur Boxing Association, World Series of Boxing, Wu Ching-Kuo