Road to dreams.

AIBA the amateur international boxing association has just completed their AIBA Women’s Youth & Junior World Championships.  As part of the 10-day event, the organization sponsored young female boxers and their coaches by providing the funds necessary not only to attend the event, but to train for the bouts at a specially held training camp.

As noted on the AIBA website, 23 boxers from seven countries were afforded the opportunity to train in Antalya, Turkey ahead of the recently concluded games resulting in a gold and silver and a bronze for training camp participants:  Thi Vy Voung (Vietnam) won a the world Junior title in the 52kg weight class for the Gold, her teammate Thi Phuong Pham won the silver in the 48kg weight class, and Moldavia’s Irinia Gilca took the bronze in the 64kg weight class in the Youth championship competition.

Otherwise, boxers from India, China and  Russia dominated in the Junior and Youth competition — heating up competitive opportunities ahead of next year’s Olympics (Team USA did not take part).

The idea of a road to dreams resonated with me — can you imagine, really, think about this a road to dreams; sponsorship of athletic prowess in the sport of women’s boxing!  And apparently, this is not the first time.  AIBA sponsored 33 boxers ahead of the 2010 Women’s World Championships in Barbados last year in a program called “Road to Barbados.”

Still, I like the idea of a road to dreams.  A place where young women, some as young as 14, are given the opportunity to practice the sweet science under the auspices of an organization that truly supports their efforts.  What could be better than that!

For more information on AIBA click here.