The six-day "Good Luck Beijing" 2007 International Boxing Invitational Tournament concluded at the Beijing Workers' Indoor Arena on Thursday. The success of the event has helped pave the way for next year's Olympic competitions, to the great relief of the local organizers.

The event drew a total of 76 boxers of 18 teams from 17 countries and regions, who competed in the 51kg, 57kg, 60kg, 69kg, 91kg and +91kg categories.

The Russian team came out on top of both the gold medals and medals standings, with two golds and three bronzes, followed by the United States, Kazakhstan, England and Thailand, which earned a gold each.

The Chinese national team fielded boxers in four categories, among whom Hu Qing and Li Quanlong were eliminated early in the preliminaries. Li Yang made the 57kg last eight but missed the quarterfinals due to injury. Zhang Zhilei qualified for the +91kg semifinals but, again, pulled out because of a shoulder injury. Zhang eventually settled for a bronze medal.

The Beijing municipal team, another team from the host country, competed in all the six categories. Among them Li Jinbao and Li Sijia finished last eight, while Tan Jun and Adili disqualified in the preliminaries. In the two heavyweight categories of 91kg and +91kg, Zhang Shuai and Jia Xiao were stopped before the semifinals.

The organization of the event proved to be effective, which in a way will promise the success of the Olympic boxing and Paralympic judo competitions to be held in the Beijing Workers Stadium in 2008.

Visit tournament website