African Olympic Boxing Qualifying Event opens the Road to Tokyo 2020 today in Dakar. Watch it live on the Olympic Channel.

The Olympic Channel will cover all five Boxing Qualifying Events, including live streaming of all women’s and men’s bouts across all weight categories from the first day of competition through to the finals for each event.

In addition to live streaming with commentary in multiple languages, highlights and news, the Olympic Channel will present a live studio show prior to the quarter-final, semi-final and final matches of each event from its Madrid headquarters.

News, photo galleries and Olympic Channel videos will also be posted on the Athlete365 Boxing Corner, along with all relevant competition information such as the rules, schedules, draw-sheets and results. Video News Releases (VNR), including highlights of the competition, will be published daily on the IOC Newsroom.

The Boxing Road to Tokyo 2020 will benefit from extensive social media coverage. Fans will be able to be part of the action by using the hashtag #Boxing, while competing athletes and teams can join the conversation through the dedicated hashtag #InYourCorner.

The best boxers of the African continent – 218 athletes from 39 nations – will be competing at the Dakar Arena for 33 Olympic quota places at Tokyo 2020. The event is being organised by the IOC Boxing Task Force (BTF), in cooperation with Dakar’s Local Organising Committee (LOC) and the Senegalese National Olympic Committee.

The event will take place at the Dakar Arena, a basketball arena inaugurated in November 2018. It is located in Diamniadio, a new modern city being built outside Dakar that will be a hub for the Youth Olympic Games 2022.

Boxing legend Wladimir Klitschko is on-board

Atlanta 1996 Olympic Champion Wladimir Klitschko (UKR) has been announced as the IOC BTF Champion. The super-heavyweight legend will join the BTF along with the 10 Athlete Ambassadors, who were nominated earlier this year in an effort to promote the athletes’ voice by engaging with the athletes face-to-face at the competition venues as well as through digital channels on issues that are most prevalent within the boxing community.

Proudly, I announce: I am the #IOC Boxing Task Force Champion. I had the opportunity of taking part in the 1996 #OlympicGames. Participating at such a worldwide event was the cornerstone of my career, and molded me into the person I am. Now I want to give back what I received. pic.twitter.com/vkPsBMPrKS

— Klitschko (@Klitschko) February 19, 2020

Klitschko will be engaging with athletes and fans at selected Boxing Road to Tokyo qualifying events, and across digital channels, helping the BTF to spread the values of boxing and fair play.

286 boxers will qualify for Tokyo 2020

The Tokyo 2020 boxing tournament will feature 286 boxers (186 men, 100 women) competing in 13 weight classes (eight for men, five for women). After the African Qualifying Event starting in Dakar today, three additional continental Qualifying Events will follow in Amman, Jordan (Asian/Oceanian qualifier, 3-11 March), London, Great Britain (European qualifier, 14-24 March) and Buenos Aires, Argentina (Americas qualifier, 26 March to 3 April).

A fifth and last competition, the Final World Qualifying Event, will be held in Paris, France, from 13 to 20 May.

There will be 278 Olympic quota places up for grabs at the qualifiers, and an additional 8 quota places will be assigned by the Tripartite Commission. A summary of the Qualification System for Tokyo 2020 can be found here).

The IOC Boxing Task Force

The IOC BTF was created by the IOC Executive Board (EB) in June 2019. This followed a decision by the IOC EB and Session to keep boxing on the sports programme for Tokyo 2020, but to suspend IOC recognition of the International Boxing Association (AIBA). The IOC EB gave the Boxing Task Force the mandate to organise and deliver the five qualification events for boxing and the Olympic boxing competition in Tokyo, and to develop a Tokyo 2020 qualification system for boxing. In line with its mandate, and considering the importance of focusing on the athletes, the IOC Boxing Task Force has complemented existing AIBA regulations with specific amendments to deliver its commitment to transparency while minimising the impact on boxers. The rules that will apply to the five qualification events and the Tokyo 2020 boxing tournament are published on Athlete 365.