Sydney Olympic bronze medallist Rustam named new national boxing head coach

By Ahmad Nazrin Syahmi Mohamad Arif

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 15  -- Sydney 2000 Olympics super heavyweight bronze medallist Rustam Saidov of Uzbekistan has been named as the new head coach of the national boxing squad for two years, starting from next January.

Malaysian Boxing Federation (MBF) president Datuk Mohamad Iruan Zulkefli said the 42-year-old, who is also a former Asian champion, is expected to arrive here on Dec 15 to undergo the 14-day compulsory quarantine before getting down to work.

“The selection of the new coach from Uzbekistan was discussed with the National Sports Council (NSC) and the matter has been agreed upon.

“We hope the presence of a new coach will help raise our exponents’ standard of performance and capability. He (Rustam) is an experienced athlete and coach while his young age is an added advantage,” he told Bernama today.

Earlier, the MBF and NSC had shortlisted four candidates from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Cuba, with Rustam fulfilling all the stipulated criteria, apart from having a better record compared to the other three.

Apart from winning the Asian Championships in 1999, 2002 and 2007, Rustam also bagged the Asian Games gold medal in 2002 (Busan, South Korea) and 2007 (Doha, Qatar) before starting his coaching career. 

Meanwhile, Mohamad Iruan said that the cancellation of the Malaysia Games (Sukma) in Johor had given MBF time to upgrade the national boxing training centre at the NSC Complex in Keramat and work is expected to be completed by next month.

This involves the improvement of gymnasium equipment, replacing worn off punching bags as well as upgrading the surface of the boxing ring.

“After this, we will focus on upgrading the training centres of all 17 MBF affiliates,” he said.

-- BERNAMA