THE GOODWILL GAMES : American Boxing Team Scrambles to Replace Barred Military Members

The U.S. Boxing team, which had 11 military members--including nine fighters--barred by the Defense Department from attending the Goodwill Games at Moscow, will try to fill the slots but is facing a Tuesday night deadline to locate the substitutes and arrange the paper work, Col. Don Hull, president of the U.S. Amateur Boxing Federation, said Friday.

“We have an obligation and are committed to being represented,” Hull said. “We’ll have to take the next line of boxers. They won’t be as good and obviously they won’t be as prepared.”

The nine fighters, including eight Army servicemen and one marine, an Army coach and a civilian naval employee serving as a team manager, were denied permission along with all military personnel from attending the games.

The remaining 13 fighters and support crew, who are not military personnel, will leave as scheduled today.

President Reagan said Friday he will not rescind the Pentagon ban on United States military personnel taking part in the Goodwill Games because the event is a “commercial endeavor.”

The Goodwill Games are being sponsored by Atlanta’s Ted Turner and the Soviet government.

At the start of a luncheon with French President Francois Mitterrand in New York, Reagan was asked the about the order, reportedly issued by Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger.

“I can answer that very easily,” the President said. “That happens to be a commercial endeavor. We can’t use military in that sense.”