The President of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) Dr. Ching-Kuo Wu expressed his great pleasure on Wednesday on receiving the news of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board's decision to release the totality of the money initially frozen by the IOC, in recognition of the reforms adopted by AIBA to improve its judging system.

The IOC Executive Board, who met this week in Lausanne, Switzerland, approved a final AIBA fund release of $415,000 having previously released $300,000 in November 2006 and $400,000 in April earlier this year.

AIBA's successful reform process was launched in November 2006 following the election of Dr. Wu and received the unanimous approval of the AIBA Congress in Chicago in October this year.

"This is fantastic recognition of the AIBA Reform project and the progress AIBA has made in the last 12 months," Dr. Wu said. "However, this is one step in many AIBA has to take. We still have a lot of work to do and a bright future ahead of us. We will use the successful AIBA World Championships Chicago 2007 as a spring board to go forward and take boxing to a level which the entire boxing community can be proud of."

AIBA's reform process continues through 2008 in a year which features nine qualifying events for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the AIBA Women's World Championships, the AIBA Youth World Championships and the AIBA World Cup.

About the International Boxing Association

The International Boxing Association (AIBA) is a non-profit making international organization, which was founded under the name Fédération Internationale de Boxe Amateur (FIBA) in 1920. In 1946 a new start was given with the launch of AIBA to replace the dissolved FIBA and now, more than 60 years later, AIBA, with its 195 member federations, continues to govern the sport of Boxing, working for the benefit of the sport and all its participants, to help Boxing realise its potential within the Olympic Movement and the international sporting arena. For more information please visit www.aiba.org
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