The re-election of the American Samoa Boxing Federation (ASBF) President Mapu Jamias to the Executive Member of the International Boxing Association (AIBA), during the AIBA Congress held in Juju, South Korea last month, could not have come at a better time.

Jamias' re-election should give local boxing here in the Territory a push as the ASBF continues its daily training to get local boxers trained and ready to represent American Samoa in the 2015 Pacific Games next year, scheduled for July 4-18 in Papua, New Guinea.

Nikolao Mageo, Vice-President of the ASBF was American Samoa’s voting delegate during the AIBA Congress last month, and he says that he is very happy and excited that Jamias was re-elected and he's looking forward to next year.

“Right now, the ASBF is looking for and training young boxers to compete in next year’s Pacific Games,” said Mageo. “At this time, we have some boxers who stand out, who have been training really hard all the time, and are hungry to get into the ring. We are getting them ready for the games next year and hopefully we will have one or two boxers that do very well and win gold, who can then move on to compete in the 2016 Olympics — because the Olympics is our main goal,” he said.

Boxing training by the ASBF is conducted daily at the old VA Building next to Tafuna High School Monday through Friday. The ASBF will also be holding their elections for officers today at 5:00 p.m. at Maliu Mai Beach Resort.

During last month’s AIBA Congress, Jamias also received certification to serve as an AIBA International Technical Official for the Women’s World Championships after passing the required test. The AIBA Executive Member post lasts four years, and this is the second time he has been elected to the post. He is also the AIBA chairman of the Athletes and Youth Commission.