NEWSLETTER by EUBC President Franco Falcinelli May 2021

The Youth World Championships in Kielce, Poland, have just ended and Europe is preparing to organize Under 22 European Championships in Roseto degli Abruzzi, Italy.

The Under 22 European Championships in Roseto degli Abruzzi is the bearers of a historic novelty. AIBA President Umar Kremlev announced that all medalists of the Under 22 European Championships will receive a Price Money. The commitment to give boxers substantial attention was a goal of AIBA President Umar Kremlev’s election program and this also was maintained.

In a few days, the Continental Olympic Qualification Tournament, interrupted in London in March 2020 due to Covid-19, will start in Paris.

The IOC Task Force will take care of the application process and compliance with the competition rules and the French Boxing Federation, led by Dominique Nato, will offer the necessary logistical and organizational support.

The difficulties arising from the pandemic, still present in France and in many European countries. Thus will increase the procedural difficulties, but the experience of the IOC Task Force and the French Federation will certainly be able to finally bring this important pre-Olympic event to fruition.

Meanwhile, 2 months before the opening of the Tokyo Games, opposition to the holding of the Olympic Games continues. An online petition, launched on May 5 and called “Stop Tokyo Olympics”, has exceeded 350,000 signatories. And even more alarming is the protest of one of the main Japanese medical unions asking the government to cancel the Games, because it is not possible to keep all competitions under control during the pandemic and there is no denying the danger posed by the new variants of the virus. Virus may come to Tokyo from all over the world.

 Subsequently, EUBC will organize the European Junior Championships from 1 to 12 July in Tbilisi, Georgia, Schoolboys and Schoolgirls from 10 to 21 August in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Youth Championships in October in Budva, Montenegro, while Belgrade will host Elite World Championships from 26 October to 6 November 2021.

As a proof that AIBA World Championships in Belgrade is the most prestigious AIBA event of 2021, the host country confirms the importance of the event by entrusting the LOC presidency to none other than the Head of State, Alexandar Vucic!

 European boxing bravely challenged the disastrous pandemic by organizing non-stop National and International Tournaments that have allowed our boxers to keep alive the relationship with the ring which has been an important factor in the preparation of the target competitions.

“In Kielce, the World Championships was not the same as any other before because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Everybody knows how challenging it is to organize such a massive event during the Covid-19 problem. But in the end, we all proved that it can be done, and done successfully”, said the Technical Delegate Dragoliub Radovic.

With the excellent organization of the Polish Federation in collaboration with AIBA and the ITOs, we also share his technical opinion: we were able to attend a World Tournament of considerable athletic and technical level which offered good hopes for the quality and spectacle of future competitions.

It is worth highlighting the overwhelming performance of the Indian women’s team, which has won seven gold medals and continues its formidable leap in quality, which began with Mary Kom in Scranton in 2001.

Could the absence of China, the United States, England and Ireland change the results? Maybe yes, but only the next edition of the Youth World Championships will be able to give a certain answer to this question.

Everything went well from a technical and organizational point of view, but the Kielce Championships will also be remembered for a mournful event. The Jordanian boxer Rashed Al-Swaisat, after an absolutely balanced match without exchanges of hard blows to the head, collapsed to the mat and the immediate care of the ringside doctors was useless. The boxer was transported to hospital where he died after a few days of irreversible coma.

This tragedy that has hit our sport must be a severe warning to all the Health Sectors of the National Federations.

Beyond the fatalities that are always possible, we must carefully monitor everything that happens to our boxers in training process, in the gym and in particular what can happen outside the ring, during normal life. Head injuries are often caused by falls, accidents that occur in many circumstances and are not reported to the health bodies of the Federations or to those of the National Teams. Therefore, we must consider that often traumatic encephalopathies that arise after a fight can have previous origins not detected except through neurological investigations which, at least at the time of annual membership, after a KD or a KO must be compulsorily carried out. Protecting the health of our athletes must be a priority objective of our coaches and of the entire health organization of the National Federations.

Unfortunately, and with deep bitterness, we have to announce another serious loss in European boxing. Olga Domuladzhanova, the Scranton World Champion and European Champion in 2001, passed away on May 14th. Olga remained to work in the world of sport after professional sport retirement and currently headed the Training centre of the Russian national teams. The deepest condolences from all European and world boxing reach the Russian Federation and family members.

 AWARDS 2019

In Roseto degli Abruzzi we will also have an opportunity to give out 2019 EUBC Awards that yet have not been delivered due to the pandemic. Passion for Boxing Commission President Boris Van der Vorst has prepared the Awards for:

Best Women’s Coach – Maarit Teuronen (FIN)

Best Men’s Coach – Luis Mariano Gonzales (FRA)

Best Women’s R&J – Veronika Szucs (HUN)

Best Men’s R&J – Mark Williams (WAL)

Best Technical Delegate – Anna Laukkanen (FIN)

Best ITO – Vittorio Lai (ITA)

Best Women’s Boxer – Buse Cakiroglu (TUR)

Best Men’s Boxer – Muslim Gadzhimagomedov (RUS)

Best Organiser – Vyacheslav Damdintsurunov (RUS)

Best Boxing Journalist – Tibor Kincses (HUN)

Best National Federation – Russian Boxing Federation

Best Project – Croatian Boxing Federation

The EUBC has also prepared two special awards: a career recognition of the journalist Giuliano Orlando for his commendable career in the Italian and international boxing sector and an award will be given to the oldest member of European boxing. Aldo Ferrara is 98 years old and has been a member of the Italian Boxing Federation for 84 years…

Competitions in April 2021

Returning to the international boxing activity of our Confederation, the month of April saw 3 international Elite tournaments which took place with a large participation of our athletes:

April 1 – 7: Int. Boxing Tournament dedicated to the memory of honoured coach of Ukraine Nikolai Manger, Kherson, Ukraine

April 18 – 25: International Boxing Tournament “St. Petersburg Governor’s Cup”, St. Petersburg, Russia

April 22 – 28: 58^th Belgrade Winner, Belgrade, Serbia