Vachagan Avagyan

Police in Chicago, USA, said they had stopped the search for runaway boxers, including one Armenian, and the International Boxing Association warned it would consider disqualification of national teams if such incidents repeated in the future, Regnum.ru reports.

Twenty-five-year-old Armenian boxer Vachagan Avagyan (54 kg), who had a 90-day entry visa to the United States, deserted his team on October 24 immediately after losing his first bout at the world championships in Chicago. Two boxers from Uganda had also gone missing from the competition earlier, before even having their first fights.

“It appears the boxers left their teams on purpose and were not the victims of a crime,” the Associated Press quoted Chicago police spokesman John Mirabelli as saying. “Some of them have been in phone contact with those that are nearest to them.”

Meanwhile, three Armenian boxers have reached the quarterfinal qualifying for next year’s Olympic Games in Beijing. Eduard Hambartsumyan (up to 64 kg) beat Korean boxer Kwan Su Park 18-12, Hrachya Javakhyan (60 kg) beat Genebert Basadre from Philippines 17-6 and Hovhannes Danielyan’s superiority over his competitor Zviad Khaduri from Georgia was so significant that the referee stopped the third round granting victory to the Armenian boxer.

(Sources: Regnum.ru, AP, A1 Plus)