World Series to give boxers Olympic shot
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Amateur boxing chief General Boonlert Kaewprasit announced yesterday that Thailand's fighters would vie for Olympic places at the World Series of Boxing, a tournament with both home and away legs.
Boonlert, talking to reporters at FBT headquarters, said the tournament, initiated by the International Boxing Association (Aiba), aims to provide countries with another route to Olympic glory.
The World Series of Boxing is a five-man team competition. Each boxer will contest five rounds of three minutes.
“Participating countries will be split into six teams each in Zone A and Zone B, to contest home-and-away matches. That means each team will be involved in 10 matches,” said Boonlert.
“Our boxing squad did not take part in the previous four matches due to the flood crisis. However, we still have six more matches to fight in.
“We are sending boxers to compete in our first match, against the US’s LA Matador team at The Music Box Hollywood in Los Angeles. The match is due to take place this coming Sunday at 8pm local time. Our boxers will be competing under the Chang Bangkok banner.”
The Chang Bangkok team will be represented by bantamweight Don Thathi and lightweight Vuthichai Masuk. Winners in the LA meet will qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
The next meets will be in Moscow on January 10, Mumbai on February 3 and Milan on February 10, while Thailand will host Kazakhstan on January 20, and the US on February 17.
The Chang Bangkok team are competing in Zone A with Kazakhstan, the USA, Italy, Russia and India, while Zone B teams comprise Azerbaijan, China, Turkey, Germany, Mexico and France.
