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Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen and welcome to the 124th ABAE Louvolite Elite National Championship Finals here in Colchester. Tonight is one of the highlights of our sporting calendar in England, an event that I know you as fans look forward to each year with great anticipation. All competitors can be proud of reaching this level in the competition and I wish each individual the best of luck for the evening.

The Elite Championship is in its 124th year now, and a glance at the roll of honour on our website will give you an idea of how the Championship has provided a platform for many boxers to go on and achieve great things. Many ABA champions go on to huge international success, and with the Olympics only around the corner now, I can guarantee that some of our recent Elite ABAE champions will be household names in the very near future.

Everyone boxing tonight should be proud of reaching this level within the competition, as always there have been some shocks and surprises in the preliminary rounds of the Championship, but I think that’s what makes the competition so exciting. I have no doubt that we’ll see some exceptional talent on display tonight.

them all for their commitment, dedication and hard work. I’d also like to thank the people behind the scenes at all of our clubs, as it is the volunteers in the grass roots of the sport that make nights like this so special. A huge word of thanks goes to the judges, referees, paramedics and doctors who continue to give their time and skills to amateur boxing. Also thank you to the Eastern Counties for helping to put on this event. I would like to thank Louvolite for their ongoing support of the Championship and also our partners adidas, Sport England and Hendersons Insurance Brokers - your support has been greatly appreciated.

A big thank you to the Board of Directors and Executive Members for their continued dedication, hard work and support ensuring that amateur boxing continues to succeed as one England’s most popular sports. I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome the ABAE’s new Chief Executive Mark Abberley.

work; Paul King, Diane Barnard, Hannah McLafferty, Andrea Riszko and Matt Makinson.

Keith Walters Chairman - Amateur Boxing Association of England Ltd

Welcome from Saphire Lee - Eastern Counties SecretaryMay I take this opportunity to welcome everyone here this evening which promises to be an exciting night of boxing. We the Eastern Counties are very proud to be hosting this very prestigious event and thanks to everyone who has worked so hard to make it possible.

We also welcome tonight the ABAE chairman Mr Keith Walters as well as a host of names in the boxing world and we really hope you enjoy your experience of Eastern Counties.

I must give a thank you to Hendersons Coorporate Insurance Brookers and Sportscover Insurers for their very generous donations towards this years trophies.

Thanks go to Frank Turmel for making this wonderful venue available to

most important people of the show, our boxers who have worked

I wish every boxer the best of luck this evening and thank everyone for their support and have a safe journey home.

With two ABAE Elite Championship trophies under his belt, Anthony Ogogo knows a thing or two about competing at the highest domestic level in amateur boxing.

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business and back in Bethnal Green, he beat defending champion Hosea Burton (Jimmy Egan’s) to become a two-weight winner of the prestigious trophy.

Anthony hails from Lowestoft, where he is a member of the Triple A Amateur Boxing Club. He also trains full-time as a member of the GB Boxing Podium squad at the English

world’s toughest international tournaments. He’s hoping that this time next year he will be preparing to represent Team GB in the London 2012 Olympic Games. He was recently

How important are the ABAE championships for English boxers?

They’re extremely important; this is one of the most prestigious championships of any sport in England. The ABAE Championships go back over 120 years and anybody who is anybody in boxing has boxed in them.

I’ll always remember it. I remember being quite relaxed. I’d got a huge group of supporters travelling from my club; there were about 150 of them, and they’d made up a chant on the bus on the way. When I walked into the ring they were making such a racket that I thought ‘I can’t let them down, they’ve come so far to see me’. I think that was what spurred me on and made me focus. When I realised I’d won, I think every vein in my body popped out. I screamed so loud that the people in the street outside could hear.

How much has changed for you since your win in

After that win it was as if I’d moved up to a totally different level. It thrusted me into international boxing and I’ve got all guns blazing now for the Olympics. I think the highlight of the past year was beating India’s number one, Vijender Singh, in his home country at the Commonwealth Games (Anthony won silver). He was their celebrity and I proved to myself that I can mix it with the elite.

What advice would you give to boxers who are

Just keep coming on. And if you lose, don’t be downhearted and don’t let it stop you. I’ve been beaten before but I didn’t give up, I got straight back in the ring and if you do that and believe in yourself you can really achieve. If you win, don’t be complacent; use it as an opportunity to keep improving

is another level altogether!

How important was it for you to win last year’s

It was really important to me, I needed to spring back from that defeat. The great thing for me was that in the semi

and it felt as if I’d set the record straight.

BECOME PART OF THE SPORTING ELITE...

48kgCharlie Edwards Mohammed Wagas

(Lynn) (South Bank)

51kg

Charlie Hoy Jason Cunningham (Repton) (St Paul’s)

54kg Alimaan Hussain

(Army) (Aston)

57kg

Mitchell Smith Chris Blinkhorn(Welwyn Garden City) (Castle Hill Police Club)

60kg Brett Beadon Sam Maxwell

(Repton) (Salisbury)

63.5kg

Louis Adolphe Danny Phillips

67kg Steve Turner Damon Jones

(Army) (West Leeds)

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71kg Thomas Baker James Metcalf

(West Ham) (Salisbury)

75kg John Dignum James Seddon

(Brentwood Youth) (Transport)

81kg Sam Pomphrey Michael Watson

(Broadplain) (South Durham)

86kg Deion Jumah Jamie Hughes

91kg Ben Ilyemi Chris Healey

(Finchley) (Bredbury & Stockport)

91kg+ Anthony Joshua Fayz Abbas

(Finchley) (Northside)

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Hello and welcome to Essex. My name is Afsheen Panjalizadeh and I am the Essex

frequently asked what a BDO does exactly. The three key points for a BDO are to work to the ABAE’s Whole Sport Plan and increase participation, sustainability and opportunities to excel within boxing.

Increasing participation: This involves increasing the number of people boxing within Eastern Counties, in particular Essex, as well as increasing the number of coaches, volun-

Increasing sustainability: Involves working with the clubs to support them with keeping our boxers, coaches and volunteers involved in the sport.

Opportunites to Excel: Supporting Essex clubs and boxers so that we are progressing further in national competitions and giving more boxers the opportunities to compete at higher levels.

Participation has increased, with establishing four school-club links offering non-contact boxing within schools. Three new further education and higher education establishments are now offering boxing as a club activity. We have increased awareness through school health festivals and a shopping centre exhibition which allowed over

being an ABA judge for the day.

boxing tutors. Over 40 new level one assis-tant coaches will qualify this season and 20

six months alone.

There are projects running all over Essex, working with SportEssex, Community Safety Partnerships and youth programmes aimed at vulnerable young people likely to commit an offence or re-offend. Over 40 young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) have taken part in 10 weeks of boxing training with two NEET’s taking a boxing tutor course to continue the sessions in the future. This is now being expanded across further parts of Essex.

Sustainability has improved, with the quality of coaches being enhanced so that the boxers in Essex are gaining a higher stand-ard of training. There is currently a volunteer structure being put into place to help clubs

as they can. Three clubs are now close to achieving

Club development workshops are being held to give clubs an understanding of external partner work, funding applications, female participation, safeguarding and protecting children and equity in coaching.

Ali Clements – Boxing Development

Boxing Develepment in Suffolk off to a strong start.

In Suffolk since Christmas we have had 7 new programmes up and running linking already thriving ABA Clubs to schools and delivering Non-contact boxing to a new audience. Suffolk Sport have provided support through Sports Unlimited and Sportivate funding to these programmes and with more in the pipe line we will all be continuing to increase participation.

Obviously for clubs to be able to keep providing outstanding opportunities to their

There is now an Eastern counties regional ABA website (www.abae.co.uk/Eastern) which provides clubs with all the information they need on future competitions, as well as results and contact details.

Opportunities to Excel have been pushed in Essex this season, with more county

Surrey, Kent, Metropolitan Police, and, Bristol

Essex has given approximately 150 boxers the chance to represent their county this season, and includes all levels of boxers from experienced to novice. This has also sparked the new Essex and Essex Metropolitan Junior Novices, which will take place in May, giving under 10-bouters the chance to compete against boxers from other clubs located within an Essex postcode. This will give the novices more experience in a championship-style environment and hopefully increase the number of entries next season, ultimately increasing the talent pool for our juniors and helping them progress to further stages in the Schools and Junior ABAE Championships.

I would just like to say that all of this development would not be possible without the outstanding volunteer work done by everyone in the clubs - from the head coaches to tea makers.

We are very lucky in Essex and Eastern Counties to have some fantastic volunteers that have the boxers in mind at all times and bend over backwards to give them all the opportunities they can. Long may it continue

tonight.

Suffolk Boxing provides opportunities not just for Boxers young and more mature but for volunteers. We need people to help our thriving clubs to grow and sustain the development of their clubs, boxers, links within their community and to be able to become Judges and Referees in the Sport.

months for all these roles.

Suffolk Boxing is growing and you could enjoy being a fantastic part of this, meet some great people and have fun along the way. If

involved whether you’ve followed boxing for years or are totally new to the sport come and see us in the Sports Village at the Suffolk Show or contact ali.clements@catch-22.org.uk or call on 07885 283708.

members, potential members, volunteers and coaches there needs to be some support available. 4 out of the 10 clubs in Suffolk are now working towards achieving Clubmark and as part of this are working on their own Development Plans – their map of how they are going to get to where they want to be in the next 3 years.

Suffolk Clubs have also been able to access funding through Suffolk Foundations Training Grant and from this in Suffolk we now have 12 new leaders, all clubs have 2 funded volunteers completing their Safeguarding and Protecting Children Course, part funding has also been made available for clubs with people ready to complete their level 2 Coaching Course.

OF ENGLANDNATIONAL BOXING AWARDS

The Boxing Award scheme is open

to everyone from the age of

five years.

Each Award is taught by an ABA

Qualified Boxing Coach or Tutor.

You will be taught the skills of

amateur boxing, history and rules

of the sport, plus the importance

of a healthy lifestyle.

For further information

www.boxingawards.co.ukwww.abae.org.uk

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