The biggest-ever AIBA Junior World Championships will be held in the beautiful modern capital city of Kazakhstan, Astana, with the first competition day on Saturday following tomorrow's general weigh-in and official draw on July 23.
A record number of 360 boxers from 52 nations have entered the comeptition and each of the affiliated AIBA Confederations will be taking part in the great tournament, in which athletes born in 1995-1996 are eligible to compete.
Joining to the host team and world number one Russia with full 13-member squads are Armenia, Australia, Belarus, Ireland, Moldova, Turkey, the Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
After collecting two gold medals at the European Junior Championships in the home ring in Keszthely, Hungary had planned to compete with a full team but finally reduced their delegation to seven boxers.
The German team did not compete at the European Junior Championships earlier this month because their boxers were concentrating on the AIBA Junior World Championships. Germany has sent twelve athletes to the championships with great expectations.
Azerbaijan also will be competing with 12 boxers in Astana, while Bulgaria and Tajikistan have dispatched 11 athletes. Ecuador, England, India, Iraq, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Romania and Turkmenistan also will be attending with their junior stars.
Some of the entered nations such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, French Polynesia, Iraq, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Scotland, Singapore and Syria will be making their debut at the AIBA Junior World Championships from July 23. Among these new nations, New Zealand, the Philippines, Scotland and Syria all have medal contenders in their teams who will undoubtedly strengthen the level of competition at the championships.
The most anticipated fight of the tournament could happen if Uzbekistan's Heydar Aliyev Junior Cup and Uman Liberation Junior Tournament gold medalist 16-year-old Oybek Sharipov and Russia's European Schoolboys Champion Khadzhiakbar Mamakov are drawn in different brackets in the super heavyweight class at tomorrow's draw.
The previous edition of the AIBA Junior World Championships was held in Yerevan, Armenia in May 2009. The Russian squad topped the team rankings with five gold medals.
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