VILLEPINTE, France — The head of the governing body that hopes to run the next Olympic boxing tournament said he supports the IOC’s eligibility policies at the Paris Olympics, and he urged those without deep understandings of gender issues to entrust those determinations to medical professionals and scientists.

World Boxing president Boris Van Der Vorst also told The Associated Press on Thursday that his organization will always put athletes’ safety first in developing its own policies on health and gender, while recognizing that combat sports sometimes require extra considerations to protect all athletes.