by ALEX P. VIDAL
Now that the International Boxing Association (AIBA) has instituted reforms in world amateur boxing such as the installation of spy cameras over the scoring tables to keep an eye on the judges and the putting up of TV screens in the ongoing Beijing World Summer Olympics, Canada is also hoping to crash in the medal round in boxing like the Philippines which has only one entry in the person of Harry Tanamor.
As part of a series of moves aimed at erasing the stain of scandal in Olympic boxing, oversized video monitors are placed around the ring so that fans and the media can monitor the judging as the bout progresses.
Smaller monitors are placed in each corner so trainers can keep score as well, it was learned.
Alison Korn of the Canadian Olympic Committee reported that "one of Canada’s top boxers, Andrew Singh Kooner, proudly enters the ring wearing Canadian red and white. Boasting a win-loss record of 93-18, Kooner also sports an additional allegiance - a small, laminated photo of the Sikh god, Guru, tucked in his sock before every fight."
"I take pride in representing not only Canada, but also my community, Sikhs in Canada," Korn quoted Kooner, who speaks Punjabi and prays every night and before every contest, as saying. "When you get to go to other countries, you tend to look back at your situation back home, and you tend to not take things for granted. I’m really thankful for the things Canada has provided me."
Kooner, 24, was born in Britain and came to Canada with his parents when he was three. The family lives in Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada where he trains at the Windsor Amateur Boxing Club. Fighting in the 54-kilogram class, Kooner (five-foot-five, 119 pounds) can qualify for the 2012 Olympics if he wins a gold or silver medal at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo. Kooner has already been to one Olympics -Sydney 2000 - where he lost in the second round to the eventual champion from Thailand. At the 2002 Commonwealth Games, he won the silver after an extremely close fight for the gold.
Coach Charlie Stewart remembers when Kooner first entered his gym as a small 13-year-old. Kooner’s dad had brought him in to try the sport, and the teenager was reluctant. But he was hooked after the first day, and Stewart could tell Kooner had the big heart of a champ.
"I knew that just by the fact that he used to get beat up by guys in the gym," Stewart says as quoted by Korn. "The thing about Andy, he came back every day, he didn’t quit, even after he had the bloody nose and sore lip. He was tough."
Korn said, once Kooner started fighting guys in his own weight category, he didn’t get beat up anymore. He won his first national title at age 14 with only seven fights under his belt. Kooner’s first international success came in 1996, when he won silver at the junior world championships in Cuba.
He lost a controversial final to a Cuban fighter before a patriotic home crowd. /MP
As part of a series of moves aimed at erasing the stain of scandal in Olympic boxing, oversized video monitors are placed around the ring so that fans and the media can monitor the judging as the bout progresses.
Smaller monitors are placed in each corner so trainers can keep score as well, it was learned.
Alison Korn of the Canadian Olympic Committee reported that "one of Canada’s top boxers, Andrew Singh Kooner, proudly enters the ring wearing Canadian red and white. Boasting a win-loss record of 93-18, Kooner also sports an additional allegiance - a small, laminated photo of the Sikh god, Guru, tucked in his sock before every fight."
"I take pride in representing not only Canada, but also my community, Sikhs in Canada," Korn quoted Kooner, who speaks Punjabi and prays every night and before every contest, as saying. "When you get to go to other countries, you tend to look back at your situation back home, and you tend to not take things for granted. I’m really thankful for the things Canada has provided me."
Kooner, 24, was born in Britain and came to Canada with his parents when he was three. The family lives in Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada where he trains at the Windsor Amateur Boxing Club. Fighting in the 54-kilogram class, Kooner (five-foot-five, 119 pounds) can qualify for the 2012 Olympics if he wins a gold or silver medal at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo. Kooner has already been to one Olympics -Sydney 2000 - where he lost in the second round to the eventual champion from Thailand. At the 2002 Commonwealth Games, he won the silver after an extremely close fight for the gold.
Coach Charlie Stewart remembers when Kooner first entered his gym as a small 13-year-old. Kooner’s dad had brought him in to try the sport, and the teenager was reluctant. But he was hooked after the first day, and Stewart could tell Kooner had the big heart of a champ.
"I knew that just by the fact that he used to get beat up by guys in the gym," Stewart says as quoted by Korn. "The thing about Andy, he came back every day, he didn’t quit, even after he had the bloody nose and sore lip. He was tough."
Korn said, once Kooner started fighting guys in his own weight category, he didn’t get beat up anymore. He won his first national title at age 14 with only seven fights under his belt. Kooner’s first international success came in 1996, when he won silver at the junior world championships in Cuba.
He lost a controversial final to a Cuban fighter before a patriotic home crowd. /MP
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