Japan Amateur Boxing Head Resigns over Scandals

August 8, 2018

Osaka- Amid subsidy and other scandals, Japan Amateur Boxing Federation head Akira Yamane announced his resignation on Wednesday.

"I resign today," Yamane, 78, told a press conference in Osaka. "As the chairman of the group, I feel sorry for athletes about the problems," he said.

But he did not elaborate on the reason for his resignation or give explanations about alleged irregularities including unfair fight-decisions, and left the conference room without accepting questions from reporters.

The scandals came to light after a group of 333 people including executives of the federation submitted a complaint against Yamane to the Japan Olympic Committee and other bodies.

Yamane has accepted the allegation of misappropriating a Japan Sport Council subsidy provided to a 2016 Olympic boxer but denied influence over recent dubious fight-decisions.

Furthermore, Yamane has admitted that he has ties to a yakuza gangster, prompting Japan Sports Agency Commissioner Daichi Suzuki and JOC President Tsunekazu Takeda to call for his resignation.

On Tuesday, the boxing federation held an emergency executive meeting in this western Japan city and left the fate of Yamane to his own decision.

At a separate press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday, the whistle-blowing group released voice records of what it claims are remarks by Yamane and federation executives about fight-decision fraud, and demanded that Yamane be expelled from the amateur boxing community and all remaining executives be dismissed.

According to remarks recorded in 2016, allegedly Yamane called for judgments in favor of boxers from Nara Prefecture in tight matches and a female executive underscored the importance of judges not being fair in Nara boxers' fights.

Yamane was an executive of the western prefecture's amateur boxing federation. Jiji Press