Public Took

Keen Interest In

Games Boxing

Boxing, staged in Noumea's new, well-equipped Omnisports Hall over two nights, proved to be the most popular indoor sport for spectators on the Games programme, even though boxing has been a neglected sport in New Caledonia in recent years.

THERE were entries for all divisions, from flyweight to heavyweight, but the host territory was unable to put up any opponents for the only entrants in the two lightest divisions.

The Cook Islands (which won two gold and two silver medals in Suva) were not represented in Noumea.

Their boxers were unable to go because of transport difficulties.

S. Chandra, a flyweight from Fiji, and M. Julius, a P-NG bantamweight, therefore won gold medals without donning their gloves.

However, Chandra challenged Julius to a bout for a special trophy, and despite his lighter weight, he won a hairline points decision.

Chandra, incidentally, is only in his first year of boxing, and is the first Indian ever to win a regional, Olympic, or world championship gold medal—boxing being a seldom practised sport among the Indians,

Disappointing

Fight fans thought that the P-NG boxers were a disappointment. They had been highly touted, but did not measure up to the standard their men achieved in Suva.

Western Samoa’s boxers, on the other hand, did extremely well. With only three competitors, they won two gold and one silver medal.

There was a marked difference in style between the boxers from Western Samoa and those from American Samoa.

The American Samoans seemed to have been trained as professionals (i.e., crowd-pleasers) rather than as amateurs, who score points only for blows made on the target.

The professional style of the American Samoans was a disadvan tage to them in the finals, and lost them their chances of gold medals.

Fiji had a better record than in the 1963 Games when 20 of their

boxers entered and won four gold medals.

This time, the same number of gold medals was won by only seven boxers. Two silver and one bronze medal also came Fiji’s way.

The secret of the Fiji boxers’ success was their fitness.

New Caledonia’s boxers won only two gold medals, but their entrants and officials will probably benefit more from the competition than anyone else.

Their officials had the assistance of Mr. John Castle, vice-president of the Association International de Boxe Amateur (lAEA), from Aus tralia, and Mr. Savignac, an expert from France, to supervise the contests and advise on organisation.

Mr. Pat Hynes, from Australia, was president of the jury during all the bouts, and conducted courses of instruction for New Caledonian referees and judges.

An important development for the future of South Seas boxing occurred during the stay of these officials in Noumea.

This was the formation of an Oceanic bureau of the AIBA— Oceania (Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands) being one of five zones into which the amateur boxing world has been split.

The headquarters of the bureau will be in Sydney, where there will be a secretary and treasurer to control amateur boxing in the zone.

Previously, amateur boxing in the area was controlled from London.

Through the new bureau, it will be possible for Pacific Islands boxers to compete, by invitation, in inter national contests organised in Aus tralia. One such programme is set down for February, when a team of Russian boxers will visit Australia.

In 1968, Pacific Islands boxers will have a chance to compete in the Pacific Championships to be held in Australia.