US boxing team holds open training session for media

Sadam Ali Lightweight/ 132 LBS (Photo Credit: Albert Sun)Photo Gallery>>(BEIJING, August 5) -- The US boxing team held an open training session for the media at Beijing Normal University on August 5, 2008.

The team's training base is at the university. Before and after the intense, drill-based training session, boxers were available for interview, with light-flyweight Luiz Yanez being one of the focal points.

Yanez is one of the gold medal favorites, along with China's Zou Shiming and the Philippines' Harry Tanamor. The 19-year-old Texan told Sohu that he was feeling very confident of his chances.

The US team has brought a total of nine boxers to the Games. Among them is lightweight Sadam Ali, who will be the first Arab-American boxer to compete at the Olympic Games. Ali's parents immigrated to the United States from Yemen in 1978.

Fighting in the heavyweight division for the United States will be 22-year-old Deontay Wilder, who only took up boxing two years ago. Wilder wants to win the United States' first heavyweight gold medal since 1988. A native of Alabama, Wilder said that Beijing's summer heat is similar to the weather conditions of his home state.