Southern African state of Namibia and a North African state of Algeria have beaten East African states of Uganda and Tanzania to the hosting of continental boxing qualifiers for 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China next year.Following dismissal performances in the just concluded world championships in the U.S. city Chicago, the two east African nations hoped to revive their hopes in the bidding for the qualification rounds. Following the completion of the AIBA World Boxing Championships Chicago 2007, which featured as the opening qualifying event for Beijing earlier this month, athletes from each continent will have two more chances except for Oceania where its Continental Championships will double as an Olympic qualifying event.A total of 284 of the 286 places available for Beijing are distributed through the qualifying events:a) The AIBA World Boxing Championships (80 places)b) Olympic Qualifying Tournaments:• Two dedicated events to be organized in each of the following continents; America, Africa, Asia and Europe.• The continental championships of Oceania.c) Within this quota, a maximum of six (6) places will be guaranteed to the host nation. The remaining two places will be allocated to the Tripartite Commission.The nine Olympic qualifying events which will complete the qualifying process for the 2008 Olympic Games In an interview with TimeSports, the Rwanda Amateur Boxing Association (Raba) Technical Director, Gashugi Kananura revealed that shifting of the event to next year gives the federation enough time to prepare for the games. “The shifting of the African qualifiers gives us enough time to prepare fully our national team which will undergo the same qualifiers in order to obtain the a qualification slot for next year’s Olympic games,” Gashugi said.The first African qualifying tournament will take place in Algeria on January 21st while the tournament in Namibia will be the second and final qualifying tournament for the Beijing Olympics.Gashugi further added that the federation is trying every mean to have its national boxers qualify for next year’s Olympic Games after missing out on the 2004 edition which was held in Athens, Greece.“We must achieve our desire of preparing good and strong national boxers who will qualify for China in one of the qualifying tournaments next year,” Gashugi added.The national boxing championship due on November 27-30 is the only selection tournament for national boxers ahead of intensive and residential training for boxers in December in preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games.Africa’s Olympic quota of 64 boxers will be filled at qualifiers in January and March 2008 events. AIBA qualifying calendar January22-31 AIBA Africa Olympic Qualifying Event - Algiers, Algeria24/1-3/2 AIBA Asia Olympic Qualifying Tournament - Bangkok, ThailandFebruary19-26 AIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament - Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago24/2-2/3 AIBA Europe Olympic Qualifying Tournament - Pescara, ItalyMarch15-25 AIBA Asia Olympic Qualifying Tournament - Astana, Kazakhstan22-31 AIBA Africa Olympic Qualifying Tournament - Windhoek, NamibiaApril7-14 AIBA Europe Olympic Qualifying Tournament - Athens, Greece23-30 AIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament - Guatemala City, GuatemalaTBC Oceania Continental Championships - Canberra, AustraliaAugust8-24 Olympic Games - Beijing, ChinaThe next event on the AIBA calendar is the test event for the Beijing Olympic Games ‘’Good Luck Beijing’’ - in Beijing from November 15-23. Ends
