Rafael ‘Balita’ Lozano, national amateur boxing coach, believes that “in general, the men and women had a very good competition” at the European Games in Krakow (Poland), despite having only two Olympic places, because “the scoring system is not very favorable”.
Spain only qualified for Paris 2024 featherweight José Quiles and flyweight Laura Fernández, and Lozano regretting cases “like Gazi’s point total” -middleweight Gazimagomed Khalidov, recent world medalist-, that “deserves a better result” in the decisive battle he lost to the Italian Salvatore Cavallaro.
Despite everything, the Cordovan coach emphasized that “they had some good results, including historic results like in the case of Laura Fuertes”, the first Spanish boxer to qualify for the Olympic Games, although ” more should have been achieved because of the great effort” of the boxers.
“We have a great team, with boxers grouped together on the front line. Let’s not forget that all our team members are current world and European medalists; some of them both. We will continue to make history and the next Games in Paris,” predicted Lozano, a double Olympic medalist in Atlanta and Sydney.
The Andalusian coach is “sure” his athletes will “break the mold in the following qualifiers”which is scheduled for March and May of next year, “because they deserve it, they worked hard for it and they will achieve it. There is a coaching staff that makes an effort every day so that they continue to bring out the best in themselves.”
Source: La Verdad
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