The Fiji Amateur Boxing Association (FABA) will be holding a monthly series of tournaments for amateur boxers starting on September 12 to March 2016.

The first tournament in the series the “Summer Series” will be held on Saturday, September 12 at the National Fitness Centre, Suva.

After Fiji’s athletes did so well in the boxing at the recent Port Moresby Pacific Games 2015, FABA has been planning and trying to raise funds to take its next step in developing amateur boxing in Fiji.

The Summer Series will be a monthly series of tournaments (all event dates and times to be released in a future press release) designed to achieve numerous goals.

First, FABA realises the importance of regular competition for Fiji athletes. Boxing is a demanding sport and without regular competition, our athletes have no real motivation to train and regular competition gives our athletes a chance to develop and test their skills in the competitive arena.

FABA is planning to send a full team to next year’s Olympic qualifying event for the Oceania and Asia regions. This event will be held in Quin’an China in March 2016. After this year’s Pacific Games, Fiji must take the next step in competition and test ourselves against athletes from outside the Oceania region.

FABA is also in discussions to bring two international teams from the Oceania region, to compete against a Fiji selection of athletes with tentative competition dates of November 2015 and January 2016. Both events will be held in Suva and will serve as a gauge of our athlete’s skills and conditioning in the lead up to next year’s Olympic qualifying event.

The Summer Series is also planned to feature Fiji’s first AIBA Boxing National Championships for many years – the exact date to be advised in the coming days. Our elite training squad will be selected from the best athletes at the Nationals and the final team to compete in the regional tournaments and Quin’an China will be selected from the elite training squad.

All clubs and athletes must be amateur and registered with FABA to compete in any of the Summer Series Tournaments. Registration of both clubs and athletes can be done on the morning of the bouts.

Athletes with even one professional bout on their record are ineligible from competing. Right now, the Summer Series is planned to take place only once a month however, in the event that interest is strong, FABA will look to increase the frequency of the tournaments.

The Summer Series is an ambitious programme but FABA feels that Fiji’s amateur boxers need the opportunity to compete after so long with no outlet for their frustrations. FABA encourages every club and athlete to start training immediately.

Fiji’s boxers deserve the chance to compete at the highest levels and the Summer Series is where it all starts.

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