A target date set for the AIBA World League and bidding countries unveiled for the AIBA Boxing Academy were some of the major announcements following the first day of the AIBA Executive Committee two-day meeting in the Nurimaru APEC House in Busan, Korea on Sunday.

Pic (Busan Metropolitan City): the stunning Nurimaru APEC house where the 2005 APEC Summit was held and where the AIBA Executive Committee is sitting for two days

Following some warm greetings from the City of Busan mayor Mr. Hur Nam-sik and the President of the Korean Olympic Committee Dr. Jung-Kil Kim, the AIBA Executive Committee got to work and announced November 2009 as the target date for the launch of the new AIBA World League, which will consist of both a team and individual competition. The Executive Committee also confirmed Dr Humbert Furgoni (France) as chairman of the AIBA League Commission and Dr Abdellah Bessalem (Algeria), Mr Jianping Chang (China), Mr Osvaldo Bisbal (Argentina), and Mr Franco Falcinelli (Italy) as its members.

Meanwhile in other key announcements, the bidding countries in the running to host the AIBA Boxing Academy were announced as the following:
AFRICA: Algeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Morocco, South Africa
AMERICAS: Canada, Trinidad & Tobago, United States of America
ASIA: China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan
EUROPE: Azerbaijan, Croatia, Russia, Spain
OCEANIA: New Zealand, Samoa

Pic: The AIBA President Dr. Ching-Kuo Wu (right) with two AIBA Executive Committee members from Oceania, Vice-President Mr. Nuau from Papua New Guinea (second from right) and Mr. James Little from the Cook Islands     (second from left) and the AIBA Finance Commission chairman Mr. Adi Narayan from the Cook Islands also


In Commission news, Mr. Falcinelli, the chairman of the AIBA Technical and Rules Commission, was appointed as a non-voting EC member while Dr. Charles Butler became the acting chairman of the AIBA Medical Commission replacing Dr. Ed van Wyk. The World Championships and Scientific and Research Commissions, meanwhile, were incorporated as sub-commissions of the Technical and Rules Commission. Dr Mohamed Soltani from Algeria was appointed the new chairman of the Scientific and Research Commission.

The AIBA Executive Committee meeting finishes on Monday.