Boxing: Indonesia out for six months

The World Boxing Council has suspended Indonesia in an attempt to force an improvement in fight safety after the deaths of five boxers in the past 18 months.

The decision, agreed to at a council convention in Pattaya, Thailand, means Indonesian boxers will be banned from WBC-sanctioned international bouts for at least six months.

President Jose Sulaiman said the organisation was extremely concerned to see so many deaths and serious neurological problems in one country. Eight Indonesian boxers have died of injuries suffered in matches since 1990, five of them in the past 18 months.