Cuba: Boxers to Train in Europe for 2012 London Olympics

A team of Cuban boxers will train in Europe for the 2012 London Olympics, said National Boxing Federation President Alberto Puig.

“We are training hard for London 2012. We think we can beat our main rivals, Ukraina -champion in Baku 2011 with 4-1-0 medals ahead of Cuba (2-1-0)- and Russia, whose performance was poor in the World Championship in Baku 2011,” he told Radio Rebelde.

Puig said those countries are also on the agenda of next year´s friendly matches along other countries in Europe to be ready for the Summer Olympics, where the Cubans will try and recover the title they lost for the first time in near four decades in Beijing 2008, namely because of the team´s youth.

Although Cuba won the largest number of medals (four silver and four bronze medals), it finished second to China, host and winner with two gold medals, one silver and one bronze).

“Cuba lost in Baku 2011 because we were not familiar with our Ukrainian rivals,” said Cuba´s NBF president, who hopes the Cuban boxers will beat that country.

“We think we may rescue the grandeur of Cuba´s School of Boxing,” he stressed, referring to Cuba’s performance in the 1980s and 1990s, when boxing was The Flag Ship of Cuban sports.