Boxers from Russia and Belarus will be allowed to compete as neutral athletes by the new governing body recently put in charge of Olympic boxing competitions.
World Boxing announced its decision Tuesday to treat Russian and Belarussian boxers as neutral athletes, emulating the approach usually taken by the International Olympic Committee since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Fighters and support personnel from Russia and Belarus will not be allowed to participate in World Boxing events with flags, uniforms or national anthems. They also must be approved in a vetting process to ensure they have not supported the war in Ukraine or have any links to the Russian army.
World Boxing was formed in 2023 as an alternative to the International Boxing Association, which received the unprecedented punishment of being permanently banned from the Olympic movement that year. The IOC had lost patience with the IBA after years of governance problems and financial misdeeds compounded by the organization's endemic ties to Russia following its election of president Umar Kremlev in 2020.
The IBA largely ignored the strictures against Russian and Belarussian athletes across sport in recent years, allowing them to compete with their national flags and symbols starting in 2023.
World Boxing was given provisional recognition in February 2025 by the IOC, which ran the Olympic boxing tournaments in Tokyo and Paris following the banishment of the IBA. One month later, boxing was formally confirmed as part of the program for the Los Angeles Olympics after months of uncertainty because of its precarious state of governance.
World Boxing has gradually accumulated membership from almost every nation — and it even added federations from Russia and Belarus last month. Ukraine's federation joined the organization last year.
Gennadiy Golovkin, the former middleweight world champion who won an Olympic silver medal for Kazakhstan in 2004, was chosen as World Boxing's president last year.
AP boxing: https://apnews.com/boxing
FILE - Kazakhstan's Gennady Golovkin smiles during a boxing news conference at New York's Madison Square Garden, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid will play Tuesday night against the Anaheim Ducks in Game 5 of the teams' first-round playoff series.
McDavid, who led the NHL in points this season, did not participate in the team's morning skate ahead of a must-win game for Edmonton and was a game-time decision, according to coach Kris Knoblauch.
The 29-year-old McDavid has looked uncomfortable at times since rolling his ankle in the second period of Game 2 when he collided with teammate Mattias Ekholm.
The Oilers are trying to avoid elimination and rally from a 3-1 deficit in the best-of-seven series. Edmonton reached the Stanley Cup final in each of the last two seasons before losing to the two-time champion Florida Panthers.
Edmonton forward/center Jason Dickinson, also a game-time decision, was also in the lineup released shortly before gametime.
Knoblauch said earlier Tuesday that Connor Ingram would start in net after Tristan Jarry started in Game 4.
McDavid, who led the league with 138 points, scored his first goal in Game 3 and had his first multi-point games in the third and fourth games of the series in Anaheim. McDavid didn’t participate in Saturday’s off-day skate in Anaheim.
McDavid was nominated Tuesday for the Ted Lindsay Award, along with San Jose Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini and Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov. The award is for the league’s “most outstanding player” as voted by NHL players. McDavid is a four-time winner.
Ingram returns to the Edmonton net on Tuesday after Jarry made 34 saves in a 4-3 overtime loss in Game 4. Ingram started the first three games of the series. He earned a 4-3 victory in Game 1 before allowing 11 goals in consecutive losses behind a leaky Edmonton defense.
“Nothing against Jarry,” Knoblauch said early Tuesday. “I thought he had a solid game the other night, but going down this last few weeks or months, Ingram’s been our starter. He’s been our guy. Now that our season’s on the line, we felt that we would go with our guy.”
Dickinson sat out the second and third games of the series due to injury. He scored twice in Edmonton’s win in the opener and assisted on the Oilers’ first goal in the Game 4 loss.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL
Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid, center, tries to get a shot past Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal, left, as defenseman Jackson LaCombe defends during the second period of Game 3 in the first round of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs series Friday, April 24, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Anaheim Ducks' Mason McTavish (23) defends against Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid (97) during the second period of an NHL playoff game in Edmonton on Monday, April 20, 2026. (Codie McLachlan/The Canadian Press via AP)
Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid, right, shoots as Anaheim Ducks defenseman John Carlson, left, defends during the second period of Game 4 in the first round of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
