Amateur boxers in the country have the potential to do the country proud on the international stage. This was the view of national amateur boxing head coach Cam Todd as they prepare for the two-day Tri Nations International event to be staged at Suva’s FMF Gymnasium tomorrow. Speaking to SUNsports yesterday, the no-nonsense coach highlighted that the sport’s biggest challenge in preparing the boxers for bigger tournaments is funding. “The challenge we always have is financials; that is the mobility of a sport,” Todd said. “It is hard because our boxers train in the morning before they go to school and then train again in the afternoon. It is quite difficult.” He said they have to accept the reality because it is what minor sports in the country face. The Kiwi believes that this weekend’s Tri Nations event would be a stepping stone to greater things. “My aim is to help make amateur boxing bigger than rugby sevens. That is the goal. We will work on it after this but at the moment we have high hopes for this weekend’s tournament.” Looking back Fiji’s light heavyweight amateur boxer Sani Fine won the country’s first Commonwealth Games gold medal in 1982 in Brisbane, Australia. Then Winston Hill took out a bronze medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. Amateur boxing has produced top boxers like Joe Keresi, Sakaraia Ve, Gyan Kumar, Ben Lanyon, Mohammed Arif, Taslim Shah, Inia Vuli, Peni Qarau, Osea Nakanacagi, Kamisese Vaubula, Joe Nitiva, Anthony Naidu, Apete Raiwalui and the list goes on. Todd said the national amateur boxing team is excited to host the event where they face Samoa and the Victorian State team from Australia. “The last two years have been a great progress for the team and the boxers have really improved. This year I’m banking on our young boxers to do well and I know they will,” he said. Todd said the visiting Australian amateur boxing team would be a challenge as they have very good boxers. “We will not treat any opponent differently; we got a job to do. They may have State champions and club champions in their team, but our young boxers are capable of winning also,” he said. Todd stated this year would be a good year as they are gunning for great performances against the Australians. “I have a very young squad consisting of mostly students, but they have really trained well for this. It has been great in the last few weeks of preparations and sacrifices. Now we are here,” he said. New female amateur boxer Violet Baleinagasau will also make her debut tomorrow. “Violet is a very special talent; we’ve started training before Christmas and she has really improved. “This is her first test on the big stage, and I know she will do well,” he said. Todd said it is a very big step forward for Baleinagasau. Star female boxer Jasmine Daunakamakama will not take part as she is in rehab. Feedback: josua.buredua@fijisun.com.fj