Elenoa Lilo (blue) in action at the national championships Photo: PHOTOSPORT
New Zealand boxer Elenoa Lilo has been drawn to met a Belarusian first up at the World Women's Boxing Championships in New Delhi.
Five New Zealand bozers are taking part despite Boxing New Zealand's preference that they not attend.
A dozen nations are boycotting the event amid mounting concerns about the IBA, the sport's Russian-led world governing body.
The IBA allows fighters from Russia and Belarus to compete with national flags and anthems, despite the war in Ukraine, while boxing's Olympic future is believed to be under threat under the current regime.
Boxing New Zealand left the final decision to the athletes after they had all fundraised themselves to get there.
Heavyweight Celine Lee-Lo is the first New Zealander in action tonight taking on a Trinidad and Tobago fighter.
The other New Zealanderss competing are Tasmyn Benny, Christine Gillespie, Jennifer Peters and Cara Wharerau.
There is almost $4 million dollars up for grabs with each division winner pocketing $160,000.
300 athletes from 65 countries are taking part, but those boycotting the event include the USA, Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden and Ukraine.
The IBA lifted a ban on Russian and Belarusian boxers last October, against the International Olympic Committee's guidance following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year.
"IBA guarantees to everyone transparency and fairness," IBA President Umar Kremlev said through a translator after declaring the event open.
"We made a lot of efforts to make this process by inviting, for example, the team of McLaren," the Russian said referring to the investigation team led by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren.
The IBA has also welcomed the presence of an IOC monitoring group, which would "see first-hand IBA's best practices regarding technical and competitions rules, specifically its heralded bout review process," the federation said.
The IOC suspended the IBA in 2019 over governance, finance, refereeing and ethical issues and did not involve it in running the boxing events at the Tokyo Olympics. The IOC also plans to stage its own boxing qualifier for Paris.
New Zealand boxers Olympic qualification tournament will be the Oceania Champs later this year.
For the Delhi event, the IBA has arranged open registration for boxers from boycotting nations and even extended financial support so they do not become "victim of the political games of a few National Federations".
The International Boxing Association has also opened disciplinary proceedings against several people, including New Zealand President Steve Hartley, over their boycott of world championships.
-RNZ/Reuters
