Bahrain Boxers Ready For Asian Heavyweights

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

The Bahrain Boxing Federation has named a five-member squad for the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.

Omar Budhahi, Ali Amr Abdalla, Hamza Salahudin and Jorge Luis Felimon Lobaina make up the men’s contingent.

Maryam Mohammed Khamis is the kingdom’s sole female representative.

High performance director and head coach John Conlan will lead the team following an intensive overseas training camp.

Speaking to TDT, the Irishman said: “We spent seven weeks away preparing, with the fighters separated from their families and loved ones.

“The squad had strong sparring with some top European boxers during an altitude camp at the Olympic centre in the Sierra Nevada mountains.”

Fighters from Spain, Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and several other countries attended the camp, while sessions at gyms across Malaga provided a broad variety of sparring partners.

“We ticked every box in terms of fitness, strength and conditioning, and competitive sparring,” he added.

With the camp complete, Bahrain are now fine-tuning their technical and tactical approach in Japan ahead of the opening bouts.

Conlan accepts that his relatively inexperienced squad face a formidable test against the continent’s leading boxers.

“Asia is the strongest region in boxing, and these Games are probably as tough as, if not tougher than, the Olympics.

“This is a young team without as much experience as the big guns, but we are targeting medals. It is all about who wants it most on the day.

“The athletes have worked harder than ever before and enter the competition with belief and confidence.”

Boxing will run from September 21 to October 2 at Nishio Gymnasium, with the semi-finals scheduled for September 29 and 30 before the gold-medal bouts on the final day.

A total of 200 boxers from 34 National Olympic Committees will compete across six men’s and five women’s weight divisions.

The men’s categories are 55kg, 60kg, 70kg, 80kg, 90kg and over 90kg, while the women will contest the 51kg, 54kg, 60kg, 65kg and 75kg divisions.