• Submitted by: admin
• Sports
• 03 / 05 / 2007

The president of the International Boxing Association (AIBA), Ching-Kuo Wu of Chinese Taipei, will visit Cuba in mid-July.

Wu told Granma via e-mail that he will visit Havana and other Caribbean countries after attending a meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Guatemala and before traveling to Rio de Janeiro to witness the Pan American Games.

The AIBA president praised the role of Cuba in world boxing, "It has been one of the countries that has most contributed to the development of boxing prospects in other nations [with trainers] who are among the best in the world as far as tactics go."

Wu hopes to work "hand-in-hand" with Cuba "to benefit boxing in the world arena."

The official informed that the first eight boxers in each weight division at the World Amateur Boxing Championships in Moscow in September will qualify for the Beijing Olympics which will see a total of 286 fighters.

The Americas will have six teams in each division except the 81, 91 and 91-plus kilo categories where they will have three each, the same as for Asia and Africa.

Wu noted that after the Moscow tournament there will be a number of other pre-Olympic events in diverse regions to decide the remaining qualifiers.

The AIBI boxing president said he was hopeful about the future of female boxing in the Olympic Games. "The president of the Womens Commission of the AIBA, who also heads the Barbados Boxing Association, hopes that women can compete in the 2012 London Games. The ICO has been very receptive to the idea in the past and we are in continuous discussion with them."

Source: Granma