Good-looking multi-nations tournament in Sheffield by Ian McNeilly Jan 17th 2008

Boxers from three prestigious boxing nations arrived in Sheffield on Sunday 13th January for a tournament to prepare for the forthcoming Olympic qualifier in Pescara, Italy next month. Teams - including Olympic gold medallists and world champions - will travel from Kazakhstan, France and Sweden to attend a week-long training camp followed by a weekend of competition (19-20th January) at ABAE HQ at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield. The purpose of the camp and competition is to prepare boxers for the first European zone qualifier in Pescara, which commences on the 24th February. GB Head Coach Terry Edwards said: "The training camp and tournament have been arranged in order to give our boxers the best preparation possible for the next phase of the Olympic qualification process in Italy next month. Such is the standing of British amateur boxing that we are now able to attract top nations from around the world. "These nations would not be coming unless they felt our boxers and training set-up represented the right preparation for their squads. We look forward to welcoming about forty boxers to Sheffield, with world and Olympic champions in their midst. "We enjoyed several international joint training camps last year and will continue to use such events as an integral part of our training programme in future." The full GB squad (excluding four boxers who have already qualified for the Beijing Olympics) will be competing. Qualifiers Frankie Gavin, Tony Jeffries, Bradley Saunders and Joe Murray will take part in the joint training but not the competition. Star attendees from other nations include: Jerome Thomas (51kg) The French flyweight is a double Olympian, winning silver in 2004 and bronze in 2000. He was also world champion at the 2001 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Belfast. Ali Hallab (54kg) French bantamweight Hallab boxed in the 2004 Olympics and more recently took bronze in the 2005 World Amateur Boxing Championships in China. Sapiyev Serik (64kg) The light-welterweight from Kazakhstan was declared world champion in his weight category at the recent World Championships in Chicago. Artayev Bakhtiyar (75kg) Kazakhstan middleweight Bakhtiyar won gold 69kg in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. The full British squad is as follows: 48kg: Darran Langley 48kg: Paul Butler 54kg: Michael Maguire 54kg: Chris Jenkins 54kg: Luke Campbell 57kg: Tom Stalker 57kg: Stephen Smith 69kg: Neil Perkins 69kg: Billy-Joe Saunders 75kg: James DeGale 75kg: George Groves 81kg: Obed Mbwakongo 91kg: Stephen Simmons 91kg: Danny Price

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