With the largest Indian boxing contingent making it to the Beijing Olympic Games, coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu is harbouring hopes of winning medals and is leaving no stone unturned to shape his team to rise to the occasion on their big day.
Picture: Jitender Kumar, Vijendra and Akhil Kumar IND
Sandhu said the way five Indian boxers have qualified for the Olympics Games was impressive and now he wanted to hone their skills so that they could match up to their rivals at the highest level.
The Dronacharya Awardee coach said participating in international competition would be the best way to prepare their strategy as well as assess the team in the run up to the Games.
Indian boxers are scheduled to fly to Germany in the first week of June to participate in a combined training programme with German boxers and then compete in the International Chemie Cup there.
They will also participate in the inaugural President's Cup in Chinese Taipei from May 24.
Vijender, Dinesh Kumar and Jitender Kumar qualified for the Beijing Olympics from the Asian qualifying tournament in Kazakhstan. They joined AL Lakra and Akhil Kumar who had booked their places earlier.
2008 Hyder Aliyev International Tournament
14 teams and 128 boxers from various countries participated at the sixth Hyder Aliyev International Junior boxing championship in Baku, Azerbaijan (May 4th-11th).
Promising junior Indian boxer Shiv Thapa won a gold medal on his international debut, in the 50 kg category. Thapa defeated Azerbaijan Gurbanzade Sarkhan in the final, outpointing his rival in the second round of the bout.
Irish boxers Joe Ward, Christopher Joyce,Gary Byrne and Charles Gallagher all finished in podium positions, with Ryston ace Ward reaching the light welterweight final where he was beaten by Rakhimov Ulubek from Uzbekistan.
The Irish Olympic squad will have their final training camp in Vladivostok, Russia in late July in the build up to the 2008 Olympic Games which begin in Beijing on August 8th.
High Performance Director Gary Keegan confirmed that the Irish squad would spend three days in Beijing before heading to Vladivostok near the Russian/Chinese border on July 26th to begin a training camp with the host nation.
Following the completion of the training camp the squad will then travel back to Beijing on August 4th.
Thailand's Olympic bronze medalist & World ranked number nine, Suriya Prasathinphimai has been suspended for one year by Thailand's boxing authorities after a positive doping test.
Picture: Suriya Prasathinphimai THA
Suriya won bronze in the middleweight division at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
He tested positive during last year's Southeast Asian Games, when he won gold in the 75-kilogram division. Suriya, 28, was stripped of that gold after testing positive and was one of five SEA Games medalists to be stripped of their medals after positive doping tests.
General Taweep Jantararoj, president of the Amateur Boxing Association of Thailand, was quoted in the Bangkok Post newspaper Thursday saying that Suriya claimed his innocence but ABAT had no choice but to enforce a ban and could face further action by the International Amateur Boxing Association
Suriya was tipped as a medal contender at the Beijing Olympics but withdrew from the qualifying tournament due to injury,
Thailand is taking eight fighters to Beijing, including Athens light-welterweight gold medallist Manus Boonjumnong, flyweight veteran Somjit Jongjohor, and Olympic bantamweight silver medallist Worapoj Petchkoom.
Stephen Smith to turn pro this week
England's World number nine and current Commonwealth Games gold medallis Stephen Smith, will turn pro this week after agreeing to sign with leading promoter Frank Warren.
Stephen will be working with Miami-based trainer Buddy McGirt along with older brother and current undefeated English middleweight champion Paul Smith.
England’s officials had hoped that Smith would remain in the amateur code at least until the European Championships in November. The European Featherweight 57 kg bronze medalist failed to qualify for this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing.
His pro debut will be, June 21 at the Birmingham National Indoor Arena.
Frankie Gavin to turn pro after Beijing Olympics
Britain's world amateur lightweight champion Frankie Gavin has confirmed he will turn professional after the Beijing Olympic Games this summer.
The 24-year-old's decision is sure to start a scramble among the world's top promoters - he has already spoken to Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy group.
Gavin said that turning professional straight after Beijing made financial sense and that fighting in the Olympics in London would be a great thing but was too far away for him.
2008 2nd Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament - Finals
Brazil pipped the Dominican republic in the race for qualification honours by qualifying a fifth boxer on the final day of the 2nd AIBA Americas Olympic Qualification Tournament in Guatemala City, Guatemala on Wednesday.
Picture: Myke Carvalho BRA
After both countries qualified four boxers during the semifinals on Tuesday, Myke Carvalho became the fifth Brazilian Olympic boxer by winning his 64kg box-off against Gumersindo Carrasco of Argentina.
Meanwhile, Colombia qualified a third boxer on Wednesday when Deivi Julio Blanco beat H Ventura da Conceicao of Brazil in the 91kg final while Haiti's Azea Austinama (81kg), Mexico's Francisco Vargas Pelaez (60kg) and Cuba's Yampier Hernandez Gonzalez (48kg) also claimed bronze medal Olympic qualification spots.
With Guatemala bringing the curtain down on the AIBA Olympic qualifying process, an impressive total of 14 countries are represented in the list of 23 Olympic qualified boxers in Guatemala with Argentina, the Bahamas, Guatemala and Haiti all qualifying a boxer for the first time.
A total of 60 boxers from 16 countries in the Americas have now qualified for the Olympic Games with 14 boxers qualifying at the AIBA World Championships in Chicago and 23 in the 1st AIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament in the Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
Swedish olympic hopeful Naim Terbunja gave an impressive performance winning his 7th straight Swedish title this weekend.
Picture: Naim Terbunja SWE
The championships, in the far north city of Boden some 1000 kilometers north of Stockholm, saw Terbunja winning three bouts before capturing the light heavyweight title
The 23 year old Terbunja has qualified for the Beijing olympics as a middleweight, but so has Badou Jack, a team mate from the Djurgarden boxing club of Stockholm. Jack, though, will represent Gambia in Beijing.
Jack, born and raised in Stockholm, has a Swedish mother and a Gambian father, and choose to succesfully enter the African qualifications.
That meant problems inside the Djurgården team and with even more to come!
Terbunjas best friend Kennedy Katende from Sundsvall is also a olympic boxer - in the light heavy division.
