London 2012 organisers' hopes of persuading boxing to move to Wembley have suffered a major blow after the British Olympic Association threw their support behind the sport's refusal to switch venue.

AIBA, the international boxing federation, want to stick to the original plan of being based at the ExCel Centre close to Olympic Park saying travel times to Wembley would be excessive.

The BOA have backed boxing's stance and organisers - who wanted to move boxing to make space for badminton, rhythmic gymnastics and sitting volleyball - may now have to build a £40million temporary venue in north Greenwich for the other sports.

A meeting of the Olympic Board tomorrow will discuss the latest development, and look at a range of alternative options over the north Greenwich arena.

BOA chief executive Andy Hunt said boxing's investigations into Wembley had proved it was unsuitable.

Hunt told Press Association Sport: "Both the national governing body and the international federation did extensive evaluations on Wembley as a possibility.

"We worked in the background in support, making sure that whatever recommendation came out was right for sport. I think all parties concluded that for boxing it was not the right solution.
"Boxing want to remain in ExCel, and from the sport's perspective that's what we support."

The London organising committee had gone to some lengths to persuade boxing to move to Wembley, to the extent of shooting a video of a car journey from Stratford in east London to Wembley in the early hours of a Sunday morning. The time was selected to try to mimic the traffic that would be experienced using Olympic lanes.

Hunt said the BOA would listen with interest to any proposals for alternatives for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics.

He added: "In respect of the temporary arena that is for debate at the Olympic Board.

"Whatever the outcome we want it to be a compact Games, we want the athletes' experience to be right and that's top of the pile as far as we are concerned."

The venue of Woolwich for shooting will also come under the spotlight at the Olympic Board tomorrow as there continues to be uncertainty connected with planning and safety. Another venue in Barking has already been selected in as a back-up if needed, but the BOA say they are committed to Woolwich.

Hunt added: "We fully support the original bid book commitment for Woolwich for shooting and it makes sense - everything is lined up to do that."