Seychellois boxers heading to Russia for youth tournament 

The four boxers with local coaches Jerry Legras (1st right) and Roland Raforme (2nd left), and Russian coach Alexey Kozlov (1st left). (Seychelles News Agency)

Four young boxers from Seychelles will leave the country at the beginning of November to participate in a youth tournament in Rostov-on-don in Russia.

The boxers all aged 16 were presented with their air tickets in a ceremony at Victoria Mayor's office in the presence of the Deputy Mayor of Rostov, Yury Ovchinnikov, the Russian Ambassador to Seychelles, Artem Kozhin, and the principal secretary for sports, Ralph Jean-Louis on Friday.  

The participation of our boxers is part of the twinning agreement that Seychelles' capital Victoria signed with the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don to establish friendly exchanges and city relations.

The boxers leave Seychelles on November 1 and return on November 13, and aside from competing in a youth tournament in the Russian city, they will also attend training sessions which will help them to improve their skills.

The four boxers making the trip are Mihael Salum in the 56.3 kg category, Trevor Uranie in the 57.8kg, Jade Micock in 75kg, and Wess Jean-Charles in 81kg.  

Micock said, "I am taking this upcoming competition with a positive attitude and will look to do well there."  

The young boxer also spoke of how boxing has changed his life and will look to push himself to go as far as possible now.

"I had behavioural problems in school and joined boxing to help me. It wasn't easy at first, where I was not really interested, but then I started to put more effort into it and I am very satisfied with where I am now," said Micock, who wants to bring back a good result.

Jean-Charles said that he will work hard to bring positive results.

"Boxing has brought me a lot of discipline and it has made me better, where my performance in school has been better and now I want to keep going and be a great boxer," he said.

Speaking during the presentation ceremony, Ovchinnikov, said that he is very happy to have these young boxers competing in Rostov and assured them that it will be a memorable trip for them.

The principal secretary for sports thanked the Russian ambassador for helping Seychelles in boxing.

Since earlier this year, a Russian boxing coach, Alexey Kozlov, has been working with the Seychelles team, helping them win a number of medals in the recent Indian Ocean Island Games in Madagascar.

While in Russia, the athletes will be accompanied by two Seychellois coaches, Jerry Legras and Roland Raforme, who will both also take on some training to enhance the levels of coaching.

This is part of the twinning programme between Rostov-on-don and Victoria, where several exchanges are taking place between the two cities.

Rostov-on-don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia.