AIBA recently interviewed Mr. Darius Saluga, the President of the Lithuanian Boxing Federation about boxing in his country.

What is your opinion regarding boxing in Lithuania at the moment?

For such a small country, Lithuania is experiencing a good time in boxing.
Since the independence of the country, in each Olympic Games we have had no less three boxers.

We have won two medals from last three AIBA World Championships, and a bronze from the London 2012 Olympic Games so we do will do our best to keep at that level.

Lithuania has got a great boxing history with a lot of excellent boxers including Danas Pozniakas, Algirdas Socikas and Ricardas Tamulis. What are the key components for finding new talent?

The Lithuanian Boxing Federation has a long tradition for which we are grateful to precisely those people you mentioned.

To maintain our continuity we are constantly looking for new talents and we will search everywhere we can.

How many nations are you planning to invite to the next edition of your international events? What do you think about future developments in this area?

We have no limit to the number of countries coming to our international Danas Pozniakas and Algirdas Socikas Tournaments, and we always bring all those who wish to participate.

This year the Danas Pozniakas Youth Tournament had twenty-two teams from twenty countries.

Could you please tell us more details about your development programs in Lithuania? What are the main elements of the program?

In Lithuania there are fifty boxing clubs.

Talented kids are constantly moving to the capital, where the Lithuanian Olympic Sports Center is, so they have the opportunity to develop with strong and equal partners and experienced coaches.

How can you increase the popularity of boxing in your country?

Our goal is to strengthen the management of the housing, the development of new sports facilities, and the organization of commercial boxing tournaments in order to promote the popularity of boxng in Lithuania.

Are you planning to host any AIBA or EUBC continental events in the upcoming years? If yes which age group would be preferred?

We are considering the possibilities, and if we receive the support of our Government we will take further steps.

Are you planning to launch a WSB team in the near future?

So far it is not in our plans, but you never know how it will be in the near future. If a country like Poland can do it, we can and we will. We can not exclude such a superb possibility.

Share on Facebook

Tweet