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22/01/2008
Butler, Campbell and DeGale clinch gold as Kazakhstan end week on top.
Senior international new boys Paul Butler (48kg), Luke Campbell (54kg) and stalwart James Degale (75kg) put the icing on the cake of what has been a fantastic week for the British squad. All three boxers claimed gold on the final day of the inaugural Sheffield Multinations. However, they could not prevent the Kazakhstanis from dominating the finals with 5 gold medals. Mo Nasir (WAL) also produced another excellent British performance to outbox the 6ft tall Swedish light flyweight
| G | S | B | |
| GB | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| KAZ | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| FRA | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| SWE | 0 | 2 | 3 |
The weekend's boxing was the culmination of a week's joint training between team GB, Kazakhstan, France and Sweden. During the week the teams engaged in 3 technical floor spars (lead by GB, KAZ and FRA) and 2 open spars as well as the usual gym, running and bag work. All teams enjoyed the state of the art facilities at the English Institute of Sport taking full advantage of the numerous gym's, track, basketball court and hydrotherapy centre. The teams also found time to relax enjoying complimentary tickets for the Sheffield Steelers ice hockey match on Wednesday night and the Sheffield Sharks basketball on Friday night.
Indeed the teams were so pleased with the week that both Kazakhstan and France have invited the squad back for several squads at their respective academies. These proposed camps will stand the squad in good stead for the second European qualifier in Athens and the Beijing Olympics in August.
GB Head Coach Terry Edwards: 'I am delighted with the way the week went. From start to finish it has been a success. The attendance of top boxing nations demonstrates the international perception that British boxing has a lot to offer. Not only did the week present the opportunity for some of our younger squad members to gain experience and demonstrate their ability at this level, but also for some of our injured boxers and Olympic qualifiers to get back to full training and sparring. With Kazakhstan bringing four Olympic qualifiers including a World Champion and an Olympic Champion and with France bringing two Olympians we couldn't have asked for more. I wasn't too worried about the results as we are currently focussed on the next Olympic Qualifier in Pescara (Italy, 24th February - 2nd March), however, I was pleased that several of our boxers performed superbly. Special mention should go to Paul Butler for beating a good Kazak and then England No.1 Darran Langley, Luke Campbell for a great win against French Olympic silver medallist Jerome Thomas, Obed Mbwakongo for beating the current World bronze medallist and James DeGale for two good wins against the Frenchman and the Kazakhstani Olympic Champion (2004-69kg). George Groves also deserves great credit for boxing three times in two days.
GB Programme Manager Matt Archibald: 'This week marks a new step in the development of the GB Boxing programme. The attendance of top boxing nations, event management by the ABAE and the supply of top officials from each of the Home Nations demonstrates the partnerships being forged within the boxing community. Invaluable support from other key partners such as the English Institute of Sport venue owners (SIV Ltd), Sheffield based agencies (Sportspulse), our sports science and medicine providers the English Institute of Sport and of course the funding provided by UK Sport all contributed to making the week a great success. It is something we will definitely be doing again, both at senior and development level.'
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