ASBC Vice-President Mr. Aziz Kozhambetov lauds improvement in Jordan’s hosting of Asian Elite Championships
The Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC) Vice-President Mr. Aziz Kozhambetov of Kazakhstan shared his views regarding the recently concluded ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships 2022 in Amman, Jordan.
Mr. Kozhambetov, who was serving as ASBC Executive Director when Amman first hosted the Asian Elite Championships in 2013, commended the Jordan Amateur Boxing Association for ensuring improvement in hosting the biggest continental tournament.
“The biggest strength of the Asian continent is in its culture. Variety of cultures, mostly humbleness and tolerance prevail in Asian mentality. The Asians are very respectful towards each other especially to the elder people and might be because of these factors the Asian boxers are less rude and dirty while boxing. Therefore in our championships we face less controversial and scandalous bouts in comparison with other continental championships.
If compare with the ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships, which was held in 2013, there is a big difference. In the 2013 Asian Championships, I was performing the role of the ASBC Executive Director, therefore I know very well how was the level of the LOC and the Jordanian boxers at that time. Only two Jordanian boxers reached the finals but none of them could get a gold medal.
That championship was very successful for Kazakhstan team in 2013, we got 7 gold medals nine years ago. The people of Jordan are great people. Might be the country is not big and very rich like other Arabic countries but people are very open, kind and they have very big hearts. Jordan is rich for its tolerance and great cuisine. Every jordanian makes you respect him and his country which I liked in Jordanians the most.
The LOC was amazing. Despite having a small group of people, they performed outstanding work. They made sure to put up a great competition venue. Although there was no TV broadcast, which was not the fault of the organizers, they compensated for it with YouTube live streaming.”
“Security in the event was remarkable. Big appreciation also goes to the volunteers who worked hard together with the organizers,” added Kozhambetov, who also addressed the refereeing and judging in the tournament.
“Regarding the work of the Referees & Judges, they generally did well except for some referees who made mistakes and got criticized on social media. As we all know, the judging system in IBA is undergoing a reform. We hope to see the positive results of these reforms as soon as possible.”
„As regards to my favourite boxers, I liked the performance of Zhaina Shekerbekova from our team and the 19-year-old Sanzhar Tashkenbay. I liked the performance of 60kg boxer from Jordan, we should watch him further. Ruslan Abdullayev from Uzbekistan was the discovery of this championship for me and I think he has also a bright future. Generally we are satisfied with the performance of our Kazakh teams but in the finals our male squad could achieve a better results, but anyway we got number one ranking in this championship. I was impressed by the Jordan and Kyrgyzstan teams. I think they progressed significantly in comparison with the last editions of the Asian Championships. ,”
Mr. Kozhambetov was elated with their national team’s performance, but he was also impressed with the competitive boxers from other Asian countries particularly Uzbekistan and host Jordan.
The concurrent Kazakhstan Boxing Federation Executive Director said they are now preparing for the IBA Elite Men’s and Women’s World Championships, Asian U22 Championships, and Asian Games next year. He also bared their plan to host the Asian Elite Championships in 2023.
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