Former world champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk (20-1, 16 KOs) shared his thoughts on how good a result it is for the Ukrainian boxing team to win three licenses for the 2024 Olympics.
- Have you been following the selection process for the Paris Olympics?
- I know that we have three licenses. Sasha Khizhnyak won it at the previous competitions and now we have two more licenses. I have not watched their fights, but I know that we have three licenses.
- Your opinion as a person who was once strongly involved in amateur boxing: 3 licenses in 7 categories at the moment, taking into account all the factors - war and so on - is it an OK result, a bad result or a great result?
- Are there only 7 categories left now?
- Yes, only 7 among men.
- Then if we do a percentage count. We had 6 licenses. How many weight classes were there - 11? It's a little worse, but actually it's almost the same. But considering the state Ukraine is in now, I think it's not a bad result.
It's a result at all, because given, once again, the state our country is in, any result is a result.
And in general, I won't say it's a miracle, but it says something that guys can win licenses even under martial law. This is very cool.
In Paris, Ukraine will be represented by three boxers: Oleksandr Khizhnyak (up to 80 kg), Aider Abduraimov (up to 57 kg) and Dmytro Lovchynskyi (over 91 kg).