Mr. Viorel Sima – The Ballroom in Dubai created a special atmosphere for all of us

Bahrain’s boxing official Mr. Viorel Sima of Romania worked as International Technical Official at the ASBC Asian Elite Men’s and Women’s Boxing Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates which opened the major continental events of the year.  

He arranged several competitions in Europe and has got a lot of experiences also in the organizational part of the events. Mr. Viorel Sima was the Draw Commissioner in the ASBC Asian Elite Men’s and Women’s Boxing Championships and he shared us his thoughts and opinions about the continental event which supported the preparations of the qualified boxers.

“I was Draw Commissioner in this ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships and my main duty was to ensure the neutrality of Referees & Judges assignment at every bout. In Dubai we had 8 neutral R&Js from other continents and 9 R&Js from Asia. The idea to have neutral R&Js was very good but it is not first time in Asia, the management of the ASBC implemented this a few years ago.

The Opening Ceremony was impressive and gave the competition the shining of a 3-star championships. Hosting the event in a ballroom in the pandemic period was a very good idea. A large arena which can’t be full of spectators or even half full let a hole in our hearts. The ballroom in Dubai created a special atmosphere for boxers and for everybody involved in this competition. 

To organize a big competition, it is very hard even in normal time when you don’t need to be very careful with medical protection. Involves a lot of work and a lot of people. But keeping this competition in a complex like in Dubai was a brilliant idea and saved time for everyone. We did not lose time spent for the transportation to the venue or to the training venue. ASBC and the LOC did an excellent job and I want to congratulate for this.

The level of the competition was a very good one and some of the finals were very competitive. For example, at +91 the final was held between Jalolov and Kunkabayev which was also the final of previous AIBA World Boxing Championships. It was some countries which was not attended at this competition like China, Thailand, South Korea or Japan to speak about some countries with good boxers but even in these conditions the level of boxing was very good.

I saw some very good boxers of Mongolia and this country with three gold medals in Dubai showed that their level of boxing is now at the top. I was also impressed about the performance of the Iranian and Afghanistan Boxing Team. 

I don’t have a favourite boxer and I can’t tell you which one was the best athlete in this championship. A saw a few very good boxers with a good combination between speed, skills and power. Speed is very important now in boxing but for have a good speed you need also some native qualities and also a lot of work in the gym. 

AIBA need to take care about the appointments of R&Js. Sometimes is about few seconds to take the right decision to stop a bout and ask for the ring doctors support. We are speaking about boxing where a punch can be the last punch of a boxer carrier. And if you are not able to react very soon you could put a boxer in great danger. The biggest challenge was to ensure that Referees assignment for every bout was the good one because the safety of the boxers is the first duty of the referees. 

We are looking forward to organize the ASBC Asian Schoolboys & Schoolgirls Boxing Championships in Bahrain this September and we need to work in two major directions. To prove that we can organize this such an important competition and to build a team for Schoolboys. Until then, Tony Davis is training our best boxer, Denis Latypov in England and preparing him for the Olympic Games,” said Mr. Viorel Sima after the competition.

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