Interview with Iraq’s team official Mr. Ali Abdulzahra Jawad

Mr. Ali Abdulzahra Jawad is member of the Iraqi Boxing Federation who has been following the ASBC Asian Confederation Junior Boxing Championships from the venue in Puerto Princesa. Mr. Abdulzahra shared with us his thoughts about the event, Iraq’s possibilities in Puerto Princesa, their strength and weaknesses as well.
The Iraqi delegation has been donated by ASBC President Mr. Serik Konakbayev, ASBC management and Wesing with new equipments in the second competition day of the ASBC Asian Confederation Junior Boxing Championships.
“Iraq is participating with three boxers in the ASBC Asian Confederation Junior Boxing Championships in Puerto Princesa in the Philippines. Iraq has got a large base of good boxers but due some reasons the country is not able to send full teams to the main international competitions.
Personally I think our current junior team is very strong technically and we hope to get good results in the event. Our team has strengthened with new equipments and our long term training camps were also supported our boxers. The ASBC Asian Confederation Junior Boxing Championships is a good chance for them to fight against the bests.
I don’t want to underline who my favourite boxer is here in the ASBC Asian Confederation Junior Boxing Championships in Puerto Princesa but of course Sajjad Ali Saleh Saleem performed well enough among our juniors in the international level. He claimed silver medal in the Children of Asia Games in Yakutsk, Russia.
We have got serious weaknesses in Iraq, especially the lack of good infrastructure in the sport. The individual sports are not supported well in Iraq and the security situation determines the ambitions and attitude of our youngest generation.
Iraq has got thousands of boxers in the country and more than 80 clubs have been competing in the national events. We have got six national events every year, two in each age group as elite, youth and junior in Iraq. We are really proud of Qarrar Sahm Kadhim Al-Ezirej who claimed silver medal in the 2011 AIBA Junior World Boxing Championships in Astana.
Asia is one of the strongest continent in boxing, its results from the last Olympic Games, and other international events show our potential in comparison to America, Europe and Africa. In spite of the difficulties in many Asian countries, the continent is on the promising stage in the world’s boxing life,” said Iraq’s team official Ali Abdulzahra Jawad in the venue of the competition.