(Reuters) - Boris van der Vorst was wrongly prevented from taking part in the International Boxing Association's (IBA) presidential election last month on the count of "early campaigning", the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said on Tuesday.
Dutch boxing federation chief Van der Vorst, along with Michael McAtee, Steven Hartley and Per-Axel Sjoholm, lodged an appeal at CAS, sport's highest court, after they were deemed ineligible to stand in the elections.
The other three were candidates for the post of independent director.
Russian incumbent Umar Kremlev was re-elected unopposed following Van der Vorst's disqualification two days before the vote in Istanbul on May 14.
CAS ruled that the four appellants had committed only a "minor breach of the regulations" and should have been let off with a light sanction, adding that Kremlev was guilty of the same offence but was still allowed to stand.
"(The appellants) deserved a light sanction such as a warning or even no sanction, but not an exclusion from the election," CAS said in a statement https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CAS_Media_Release_8862etal.pdf.
"Furthermore, the Sole Arbitrator noted that the incumbent President had committed the same minor violation and had not been sanctioned for it."
The IBA said it will take legal advice and discuss the matter at a meeting of its newly elected board of directors in Lausanne on June 24.
"IBA notes that the decision to make the appellants in this case ineligible to stand for election in May of this year was made by an independent body, the Interim Nomination Unit," they said in a statement.
"IBA remains grateful to the independent bodies which have supported our commitment to achieving the highest standards of governance."
The International Olympic Committee suspended the governing body in 2019, stripping it of involvement in last year's Tokyo Games due to governance issues. The sport was also not included in the initial programme for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
(Reporting by Dhruv Munjal in Bengaluru)
