Kazakhstan boxer Serik Sapiyev. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
London Olympic champion Serik Sapiyev has passed The Val Barker Trophy to Timur Kulibayev, Kazakhstan Boxing Federation president, Tengrinews.kz reports, citing Channel 7.
The legendary trophy was delivered to Astana on August 28 via a special flight from the UK. The Trophy was passed on to Serik Sapiyev during a meeting of the Executive Committee of Kazakhstan Boxing Federation. Traditionally Serik Sapiyev passed the boxing prize on to the management of the Federation for temporary storage. The Trophy should be delivered to Rio de Janeiro that will host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in four years.
Timur Kulibayev, in his turn, awarded the Olympic champion with a $125,000 certificate.
Serik Sapiyev, who won the men's Olympic welterweight gold was tagged the best boxer of the London Olympics. He became the third boxer from Kazakhstan after Vassiliy Zhirov (1996) and Bakhtiyar Artayev (2004) awarded with this prestigious prize.
