End of the road for Mirabai Chanu and Lovlina Borgohain in Olympics?

In what can be termed as a big blow for aspiring Indian weightlifters, The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is contemplating a move to drop both weightlifting and boxing from the list of events for the Paris Games. If the development, turns out be true,  it will be a huge setback for indian sports. In Tokyo Olympics 2020, Mirabai won silver in weightlifting, while Lovlina Borgohain clinched bronze in boxing. According to a recent amendment to the Olympic Charter the full IOC membership can remove a sport whenever the governing body does not act in accordance with the decisions approved by the IOC executive board or if it “acts in a manner likely to tarnish the reputation of the Olympic movement”.

The fate of weightlifting seems to be hanging by a thin thread, as it runs the risk of being expunged from the Paris Olympics owing to long-term doping cases and governance issues that include financial corruption. The mantle of International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) was in the hands of former IOC member Tamás Aján. Apart from this, the IOC will also be looking at boxing’s performance at the Tokyo Olympics as well as all the ongoing reforms under the realm of AIBA and under its president Umar Kremlev before they take a decision on whether or not they want to reinstate its official recognition.