The World Boxing Championships ended in Doha, Qatar on 15 October. It is the first of its kind in the Middle East, and was hosted by Qatar for the first time inside the Ali Bin Hamad Al-Attiya Arena.
The championship continued for 10 days and included 10 competitions in various weight classes. It witnessed fierce competition between the boxers, and left distinct echoes among all participants.
The importance of the tournament lies in the fact that it qualifies players to participate in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016, which motivated the audience to attend to support the representatives of their countries in this tournament. The elite of the strongest world boxers gathered, seeking to be crowned as world champions, and to secure their seats in the Olympics.
Ten new global champions have been crowned within this championship. Cuba’s share of gold medals was the greatest of all, as it won four gold medals, followed by Russia with two gold medals, while Azerbaijan, Morocco, Ireland and France got one gold medal each.
Moreover, both Egypt and Algeria were able to to earn a bronze medal each.
Moroccan boxer Mohammed Rabii was crowned world champion in the 69 kg weight category by defeating Kazakh Daniyar Yeleussinov in the final round, which brought them together. Rabii hence guaranteed his place in the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics.
Rabii became the first Moroccan Arabic boxer to obtain the world title since the beginning of the World Championship in 1974 in Cuba. Previous Arabic participations were limited to bronze medals only, won by boxers from Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Syria and Iraq.
The 22-year-old Moroccan showed distinct performance throughout the tournament since it began, beating all his opponents.
Egyptian Hosam Abdin got a bronze medal in the middleweight class after his first defeat in the semifinals against Cuban player Arlen Lopez. Algerian Mohammed Alfelici also won the bronze medal in the flyweight class.
The tournament attracted more than 500 million viewers around the world. Among the attendees in Doha were legendary boxers the Klitschko brothers; Wladimir Klitschko, world champion of the heavyweights, as well as Vitali Klitschko, last year’s world champion in heavyweights, who recently entered the world of politics. Stars like Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan also joined the Klitschko brothers at the World Boxing Championship.
