Lausanne (Switzerland), Jun 18 (IANS): The International Boxing Association (IBA) has opened the bidding process for World Boxing Tour (WBT) events for 2023-2024. During that period there will be six key WBT events that are planned to offer points toward Olympic qualification.

The events are expected to be spread between continents, ensuring fair opportunities to earn a chance to box at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

"For many years, IBA has delivered World Boxing Championships for men, women and youth. The World Boxing Tour was designed to expand the opportunities we make available for boxers around the world to participate in international tournaments featuring the best boxers. We are excited to partner with National Federations to deliver the World Boxing Tour and help turn the dreams of boxers worldwide into reality," said IBA president Umar Kremlev.

A hosting outline has been provided to IBA National Federations, featuring WBT requirements, financial expectations, governance models and more, while highlighting the benefits of hosting. This will also enable potential hosts to be more actively engaged in the bid process from an earlier stage and to better understand the WBT events as a platform that creates shared value by facilitating exchanges between athletes, spectators, media and organizers.

IBA secretary-general Istvan Kovacs added: "When developing the World Boxing Tour, we had to consider not only IBA's or the boxers' needs, but also benefits for the hosts. With our model, hosts can expect a straightforward bidding process, supported event delivery, a partnership approach to rights and responsibilities, reasonable expectations, and significant measures aimed at sustainability and legacy."

The newly designed hosting requirements and a draft of the competitions' calendar which has been reviewed, revised and approved by the IBA Athletes' Committee and the IBA Competitions Committee were distributed among all National Federations.