#Assisi14 EUBC European Women's Junior Youth Boxing Championships: Interview with Italian Boxing Federation President Brasca
15 July 2014
FPI President Alberto Brasca and EUBC President Franco Falcinelli
7 Days of bouts (20-27 July). 26 nations in competition. 200 athletes (103 Junior – 97 Youth) ready to fight for glory inside the PalaEventi set in Santa Maria degli Angeli, little town 1 km south of Assisi. This is a little numerical recap of the EUBC European Women’s Boxing Championships 2014, which will be inaugurated on upcoming 20th july. FPI (Italian Boxing Federation) is the National Boxing Federation which has been appointed by EUBC to organise and host the competition. EUBC Press Office meets the Italian Boxing Federation President, Alberto Brasca, to talk about this fantastic “Noble Art” adventure, which is going to take off.
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1. Italy once again is going to be hosting an international Women’s boxing event, 10 years after the European Women’s Championships in Riccione. What are your thoughts regarding how Women’s boxing has grown?
The whirlwind of Women’s Boxing’s growth is perhaps the most relevant leap in international boxing. Certainly it is an exciting phenomenon in Italian boxing in the last several years: our gyms are full of a female presence. There’s a continual development of Women’s competitions and our Women athletes have distinguished themselves and proved to win internationally.
In this positive atmosphere it seemed that our country would be the best to host this event. I am grateful to EUBC who accepted our bidding to host this event. We’re looking in every way possible to not disappoint. We will be keeping in our tradition of hospitality and sure that the European girls in exchange will do their best to give their best performance.
2. Next to the National Training Center is the PalaEventi in Assisi, which has been the home of Italian boxing for the past 25 years. Could you speak about this historic relationship between Italian boxing and the city of St Francis?
Assisi has been the home to our National Training Center. Here is where athletes of our national teams, both male and female train and prepare themselves. Year after year, under the direction of Franco Falcinelli has made sure of the functionality of the Training Center and has become a center of international activity: in recent years there have been many training camps with many foreign teams; AIBA has made it a place to hold courses for R&Js, Coaches and Ringside Doctor.
The European Women’s Junior & Youth Championships will take place at the brand new PalaEvent that is right next door to the National Training Center. The PalaEvent will be inaugurated by the Mayor of Assisi, Claudio Ricci and will provide an extraordinary resource to use for future events.
3. The Italian Women have obtained extraordinary results recently such as Davide’s gold in the European Women’s Championships in Bucharest, and Testa’s gold at AIBA World Junior Championships in Albena. What are you expecting for the 14 Italian boxers during this competition.
We are very satisfied with the results already achieved by the Italian boxers on an international level. Irma Testa’s gold medal in the Junior category and Marzia Davide’s gold at the European Women’s Championships are two pearls that we are naturally very proud. I want to add that these are only two of the wall of medals won in the various competitions that we’ve participated in. Italian Women’s boxing is indisputable. We will participate in these European Championships with 14 young women. In respect to other nations with more a stronger tradition, we are perhaps disadvantaged with less experience. I am confident that all of our young women athletes will do their best and have great success, and make us proud.
In conclusion, this edition of the European Championships will have more than 200 boxers. Which tournament will be the point of reference technically and competitively in your opinion?
We cannot be proud more proud of the overwhelming participation. This is the first victory. Overall, there are a total of 25 countries that are participating and over 200 boxers registered to compete, guaranteeing that the best European athletes will ensure for great entertainment. For a technical evaluation on the quality of the tournament, two observations can be made. That the competitiveness of Women’s boxing is fair and tight: women always show their best in the ring and give they’re all. Specifically technical there will be a surprising technical growth of the athletes in comparison to past editions.