Cuba looks to kids to recover faded boxing glory
01.01.70
HAVANA - (AP) -- Lazaro Perez jabs rhythmically at his oppose in a steamy Havana gym, dancing, feinting and punctuating each blow with a grunt.
After the irrevocable bell, he thrusts a weary arm skyward in triumph, and a proud grin spreads across a face still years from feeling a razor's scrape. Perez has honest become Havana's first under-75-pound (34-kilogram) boxing prizewinner in a new age category for 9- and 10-year-olds.
Boxing-mad Cuba is putting its athletes in the belt earlier than ever. The idea is that those who start young will have a critical edge in the pleasure's motions and techniques when they start competing more seriously down the road.
It's part of a top-to-bottom disappoint-up aimed at restoring Cuban boxing to its former glory after the national squad returned from the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing without a gold medal for the first every so often in 40 years.
"I started boxing to follow in my father's footsteps," said Perez, a tiny and wiry 9-year-old in black boxing shorts and blue T-shirt. "I'm not weak-kneed. I'm fast, and I really like it. I want to be great like (Olympic and efficient champion Yuriorkis) Gamboa, the boxer I admire most, and win lots of medals like (Felix) Savon.
Source: Newsday