MINSK, 2 February (BelTA) – The Viktor Liventsev Memorial Tournament will take place in the Sport Arena in Minsk on 2-5 February, BelTA learnt from the press service of the Sport and Tourism Ministry.
Partaking in the competitions will be over 100 boxers from 17 countries: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Greece, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Nigeria, Russia, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Ecuador.
The Belarusian team will comprise its leading boxers Vazgen Safaryants, Dmitry Asanov, Sergei Korneyev, Sergei Novikov, Pavel Kostromin, Vitaly Bondarenko. Final bouts will be held on 5 February.
This year the tournament will take place earlier than usual. The schedule has been changed due to the preparations of the leading athletes to the Olympic qualifying tournaments that are slated for April and May 2016. In order to get the Olympic berth boxers will have to make it into the top three in April and the top five during the May competitions. Belarus hopes to get 3 or 4 Olympic berths for Rio 2016. At present only Belarusian boxer Dmitry Asanov has qualified for the Summer Games.
The Viktor Liventsev Memorial Tournament in Minsk is a continuation of traditional competitions for the prizes of the Sport Arena. Nine tournaments were held in the lifetime of Viktor Liventsev. After his death in 2009 it was decided to name the tournament after the well-known sport functionary, the Hero of the Soviet Union.
