A pair of Greater Victoria amateur boxers brought home hardware from the national championships.
Victoria featherweight Terris Smith and Langford super heavyweight Braydon Blazina both won bronze medals at the Brampton Cup held in Brampton, Ont. from Feb. 2 to 5. The tournament was a qualifier for the world championships set to be held in India for the women and Uzbekistan for the men.
While the pair missed out on that goal, Smith’s skill still caught the eye of national team selectors, who picked her to join the national team.
Smith lost in a split decision at the semi-final stage.
“I thought I’d won, right after I had people coming up to me and saying, ‘You got robbed.’ But there were two guys sitting ringside doing analysis and even after my first fight they reached out, and they don’t do that for everyone.”
Smith has been knocking at the national team’s door for years, qualifying for the national championships back in 2018.
Smith said she was disappointed to lose, but the ultimate goal of qualifying for the Olympic team is still alive, with a number of opportunities to qualify between now and next summer’s games kick off in Paris. Until then Smith is aiming to get as much international experience as possible. She’s travelling to a competition in San Francisco in Feb. 18 and 19 which will see around 600 female boxers competing. Also coming up are the qualifiers for the Pan American Games in July.
“I’m disappointed but there’s still hope, there’s a lot of variables.”
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