By Vincent Morin
Facebook photo credit: Boxing Canada
No less than 11 Boxing Canada representatives are in action during the first global Olympic Qualifying tournament, which takes place from March 3 to 11 in Busto Arsizio, Italy. However, head coach Vincent Auclair's team will have a heavy task, since
three maple leaf pugilists were in action on Sunday. Flyweight (51 kg) Justin Parina started the tournament on the right foot with a victory over Keymberth Solorzano of Venezuela, while Junior Petanqui (71 kg) followed on the victorious path against Martin Skogheim of Norway.
Things then got worse in the face of strong adversity: no less than 602 boxers representing 113 nations are currently trying to qualify for the Paris Games.
Here's an overview of the tournament so far.
51 kg men
Justin Parina (victory decision 5-0) on Keymberth Solorzano (Venezuela) – Round 1
Justin Parina vs Yuberjen Martinez (Colombia) – Round 2
57 kg men
Victor Tremblay BYE – Round 1
Victor Tremblay vs. Pedro Manuel Gomes (Angola) – Round 2
71 kg men
Junior Petanqui (victory decision 5-0) on Martin Skogheim (Norway) – Preliminary round
Junior Petanqui (defeat decision 3-1) against Aleksandr Trofimciuk (Lithuania)) – Round 2
80 kg men
Keven Beauséjour (defeat decision 5-0) against Rafayel Hovhannisyan (Armenia) – Round 1
Cedrick Belony-Dulièpre – Haiti (defeat decision 5-0) vs Nurbel Oralbay (Kazakhstan) – Round 1
92 kg men
Bryan Colwell vs. Soheb Bouafia (France) – Round 1
+92 kg men
Alexis Barrière vs Davit Chaloyan (Armenia) – Round 2
50 kg women
McKenzie Wright vs. Aira Villegas (Philippines) – Round 2
54 kg women
Scarlett Delgado vs. Anna Svensson (Sweden) – Round 2
57 kg women
Marie Al-Ahmadieh vs Olga Papadatou (Greece) – Round 2
60 kg women
Terris Smith (loss decision 4-1) salary. Lenka Bernadova (Czech Republic) – Round 1
66 kg women
Sara Kali vs Kitija Zarberga (Latvia) – Round 2
Two pugilists already qualified for Paris
Note that Wyatt Sanford (63.5 kg men) and Tammara Thibeault (75 kg women) are both already qualified for the Paris Olympic Games thanks to their respective gold medals during the Pan American Games, held from October 19 to 27, in Santiago, Chile.
