Turkey to remain host of amateur boxing games

World sport's top court ruled Thursday that the European Boxing Confederation acted illegally when it moved the European amateur boxing championships from Bulgaria to Turkey. Nevertheless, the Court of Arbitration for Sports judged that as the championships are to start Friday, it was unable to reverse the confederation's decision and return the hosting rights of the championships to Bulgaria. Bulgaria had brought the case to the Lausanne-based court after it was informed by the European confederation that it had lost its hosting rights of the games as it was being investigated by the International Boxing Association. On Thursday, the CAS partially upheld Bulgaria's appeal, saying that the European confederation acted beyond its scope by imposing a sanction on the Bulgarians which is not enshrined in its statutes. "The withdrawal of the hosting rights from Bulgaria was therefore illegal and under normal circumstances, Bulgaria should have kept the right to host the European Men Championships 2011," it said. However, the court found that with the games due to begin Friday, Turkey as a hosting country has "incurred significant costs for organizing the event." "Turkey is a bone fides third party, whose rights also must be protected," it added. "In the normal course of events, the hosting rights would revert to Bulgaria," said the court. "However, given the time constraints and the fact that the championships are due to commence on 10 June 2011, the costs, resulting from a decision to reinstate Bulgaria Boxing Federation in its hosting rights would be disproportionate," it added.