Six members of boxing teams who attended an Olympic qualifying event in London in March are said to have contracted the coronavirus.
The Turkish Boxing Federation said two fighters and a coach tested positive since returning from the event. Marko Marovic of the Croatian Boxing Federation also claims a fighter and two of its coaches have the disease. He told BBC Sport: “Our epidemiologist says they were most probably infected during [the] Tokyo 2020 qualifier.”
Marovic, secretary general of the Croatian Boxing Federation, added: “Our first concern is the health of our boxing family.
“We are still praying that everything endswell and there will be no other positive tests.”
He said both Croatian coaches and the fighter were “stable” and in quarantine. Earlier, organisers of the Road to Tokyo competition at the Copper Box - including an International Olympic Committee (IOC) Boxing Task Force - were branded “irresponsible” by the Turkish Boxing Federation after three of its team tested positive.
The event was called off after three days because of the pandemic.
Turkish Boxing Federation president Eyup Gozgec told BBC Sport that organisers failed to take the outbreak seriously enough and “didn’t care”.
He added: “I just want to know, when the whole world was on high alert, why they hosted this event?
“We didn’t see any hygienic standards there. There were no preventative measures.”
The IOC said its Task Force was “not aware of any link between the competition and the infection”.(bbcsport)