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The “Road to Dream” development program created by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) is one of the most innovative and rewarding sporting initiatives in the world, and offers athletes and coaches from underprivileged and developing countries the opportunity to participate in major AIBA events as well as Olympic Games and to attend intensive training camps in the build-up to competitions.

AIBA provides each participant with airline tickets, accommodation, food and drinks, full training facilities with equipment, training kits, gloves and headgear, full medical and massage services as well as covering insurance, visa expenses and local transportation.

“As one of AIBA’s Development Programs, the Road to Dream Program follows the ideals of the Olympic Movement by contributing to the social improvement of boxers, and the dream of being competitive at AIBA’s main international events and Olympic Games,” explained AIBA President Dr Ching-Kuo Wu.

“It is also a tool to educate the boxers and help them to fight against violence, poverty, illiteracy and any other social problems in their country,” added the AIBA President.

The latest instalment of the program was the “Road to Sofia” edition which took place just before April’s AIBA Youth World Championships in Sofia, the sole qualifying event for the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games, the boxing competition of which starts tomorrow.

AIBA have put together a video report about “Road to Sofia” to display the hard work demonstrated by everybody involved and the impact the program had on coaches and boxers.

“Road to Sofia’s” training camp kicked off on March 29th, and hosted 30 boxers (26 men and 4 women) as well as 13 coaches.

Many of the boxers who took part in the camp performed to the best of their ability during the Championships in Sofia, with two quarter-finalists, and two gold medals for Cuba’s virtuoso talent Javier Ibanez Diaz and his fellow Cuban Yordan Alain Hernandez.

Both boxers qualified for Nanjing 2014 via their gold medals, and both athletes enjoyed an excellent Youth World Championships which all stemmed from the “Road to Sofia” program. They will be the only athletes to represent Cuba at the Youth Olympic rings as of tomorrow.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO

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