By Tom Degun

C_K_Wu_at_lecternMay 5 - C K Wu, President of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA), has hailed the success of the Road to Dream project, which he claims is one of the most important initiatives ever launched by his organisation.


The project is designed to offer athletes and coaches from countries that would not otherwise be able to be present at major AIBA events the chance to attend.

It will also enable them to train for these events on-site two weeks in advance of competition.

The project spawned training camps that took their name from the host cities of the championships they were designed for.

For example, the first such training camp was the "Road to Milan" which was held in Assisi in Italy before the 2009 AIBA World Championships, and saw coaches from 66 different countries training together for the tournament.

Wu admitted that he is delighted with how the project has expanded since Milan, stating that the recent AIBA Women's Junior and Youth World Boxing Championships in Antalya in Turkey saw members of the Road to Dream project claim medals for the first time.

"The Road to Antalya training camp has been one of the most successful so far in terms of results achieved in the ensuing championships," he said.

"Two boxers from Vietnam would not have been able to participate in the tournament without AIBA's help through the Road to Antalya training camp.

"Yet after two weeks of intensive training, they have excelled in the championships to take one gold medal and miss out on a second by only one point.

"The performance by these boxers shows that the huge investment made by AIBA in covering the costs of their training and participation in world championship events is extremely worthwhile."

AIBA relies on support from the host cities for tournaments and the respective boxing federations in order to be able to provide such training camps.

However, the world governing body finances the transport and accommodation for the participants which involves a significant investment for each training camp.

"Through the training camps offered by the Road to Dream project, we have been able to broaden the participation at all World Championship events and increase the quality of the competition for our fans," Wu continued.

"I am proud that this initiative has not only allowed boxers from underprivileged countries to participate in such event, but to win medals too."

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