I am going to give my all for Rio: Vijender Singh
Olympic and World Boxing Championships medal winner, Vijender Singh has welcomed the world boxing governing body’s (AIBA) plan to include professional boxers in Olympics. The AIBA president Wu Ching-kuo had indicated on Wednesday they are in the process of allowing professional boxers in the event.
Vijender, who is slated to take on Alexander Horvath in his next bout on Liverpool on March 12, said that if the decision becomes official then he would try his best to qualify for the quadrennial event.
"If the decision is made official soon, I am definitely going to give my all for the Rio Games. I will go through the process of qualification as being in the Olympic Games is a huge thing," the boxer told Times of India from London.
The AIBA president Ching-Kuo Wu said on Wednesday had said on Wednesday that the association is planning to include professional boxers in Olympics and the decision will be made in a matter of months.
“We want the best boxers to come to the Olympic Games. It is Aiba’s 70th birthday, and we want something to change – not after four years, but now,” Ching-Kuo Wu had said, as per a report by the Guardian.
Vijender supported the move by the world boxing body and said that if the proposal is approved then more amateur boxers in India could turn into professional boxers.
"I feel it is a very big step taken by the AIBA. Losing the chance to participate in the Olympics is the biggest hindrance for any amateur boxer who wants to turn pro.
"I feel more boxers in India will now turn pro since they will have an option of participating in the Olympic Games and other multi-sport events," Vijender told ToI.
However, the proposal by AIBA has also received criticism from the fraternity with World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaiman and Robert Smith, Britain’s leading boxing administrator taking on the organisation for the move.
“AIBA does not have a clue of what boxing means and represents,” said Sulaiman as per a report on Philstar.com.
"I can't see how it would work, to be honest," he said. "Are you really going to put in Floyd Mayweather against some little boy who has qualified through the Olympic system in Rio? There is a gulf in class and ability.
"It's farcical to
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