THE ARMY IN UKRAINE
The Army Boxing Team forge partnership with Ukrainian Boxing Federation
THE Army Boxing Team has been forging a partnership with the Ukrainian Boxing Federation. On December 14-16 the Army hosted a round robin tournament at their Combat Sports Centre in Aldershot. Regional select teams from the Southern Counties and Merseyside & Cheshire were in attendance, along with a team made up of the Ukrainian Select and guests.
The Army Boxing team continued to enhance their working relations with the Ukrainian federation when they accepted the invite to train alongside the Ukrainian National Team at their Olympic Boxing Centre in the city of Lviv. 10 males of the Army Boxing Team’s Gold Squad attended a 10-day training camp between February 5-14, whilst three female boxers flew out on the 17th and returned on February 22. Alanna Nihell returned in time to be in the corner for her husband Chez’s professional debut on the James Degale-chris Eubank Jnr undercard
As well as training alongside the Ukrainian internationals, the Army boxers engaged in “School of Boxing” technical sessions led by Leonid Loevsky (national coach for the male team) and Sergei Gordienko (national coach for the female team) on their respective camps. Both camps allowed the Army Boxers to have the opportunity to rack up countless competitive rounds in sparring with European and World champions, with esteemed names like Aleksandr Khyzhniak.
Ben Stewart, the Army Boxing’s Performance Team Lead, explained, “I wanted to include a round robin tournament and training camp abroad with an international squad when we were drawing up the programme for the season. Having been to Ukraine previously with England and the quality of boxers that they produce, I wanted to include Ukraine in these plans, which wouldn’t have been possible without the help from Polina Shtyfura from their federation. We look forward to working closely with them into the future and welcoming a full side in this December’s tournament.”
The Army Boxing Team’s head coach, James Allen, stated that this all had “been ideal preparation for the upcoming UK Armed Forces Championships, as we ramp up our training ready to take back the team title. We relinquished the title to the Navy last season after 34 years at the helm, but we have drastically changed how we operate over the last 12 months, focusing on long term planning.”