The Russian boxing federation is to blame for Moscow losing the right to host this year’s amateur world championships, a top Russian Olympic official said Wednesday.The International Boxing Federation said Monday that the Russian capital, which had been awarded the championships last month, was being stripped of the event. The AIBA said the Russian federation “failed on a number of issues pertaining to the agreement despite continuous assistance from AIBA.”

Viktor Khotochkin, the vice president of the Russian Olympic Committee, said the boxing federation failed to send confirmation of several conditions for hosting the championships to AIBA by the March deadline. The conditions included paying a US$1.5 million deposit and assurances that hotel rooms would be provided at a cost of not more than US$40.

“In that federation, neither the president nor the general secretary knows any foreign languages. All the work is done through a translator. Materials were developed with great delay,” Khotochkin said. “Therefore, I think that one of the reasons these conditions weren’t fulfilled is a very low level of professionalism in that federation.”

Calls to Russian boxing federation president Eduard Khusainov’s office were not answered Wednesday.

On Monday, Khusainov was quoted by ITAR-Tass as saying that AIBA had imposed “groundless demands” and organizers had met all necessary conditions.

It was not immediately clear where the championships would be held. Moscow had won the bid over Jeju, South Korea.

Being stripped of the championships was a rare loss for Russia in its drive over the past several years to host major sporting events. Moscow is the site of this year’s ice hockey world championships, and the southern city of Sochi is seen as a strong contender for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

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