Fiji boxers make Youth Olympics history

The Fiji amateur box­ing team will make history when two upcoming boxers will com­pete at the Summer Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal, from October 31 to November 13.

Team Fiji Youth Boxing head trainer Cam Todd said the team was excited to have Fiji represented at the Youth Olympics for the first time.

"This is the first time in history that Fiji has ever had boxers go to Youth Olympic Games, so it's quite a big deal and I'm very impressed and honoured that we've got two boxers going," Todd told SUNsports yesterday.

The team preparations are on track, with Merewalesi Kolitapa and Norman Am­ram recently competing at an Oceania invitation event in Samoa.

"Team preparation is go­ing really well. We've just come back from Samoa from the Oceania invitation event where both of our boxers competed and they performed very well," he said.

Todd said the focus in Dakar would be on perfor­mance rather than medals.

"The team's main goal is just to perform to the best of their abilities. Youth Olympics is a very hard event.

"It only happens every four years and it's the world's best youth boxers, so it'll be some very strong competition there," he said.

"We have one male and one female boxer

"I'm looking forward to them performing on the big stage at the Youth Olym­pics."

Todd urged the Fiji com­munity to support the young boxers as they make their historic debut.

"We'd love the Fiji com­munity to get behind our young boxers making his­tory going to Youth Olym­pics," he said.