USA Boxing tourney in area all this week

Fans will get a look at Olympians past and future when the USA Boxing National Championships unfold this week in the Spokane area.

The United States’ premier Olympic-style boxing event has attracted 477 athletes, including 184 in the men’s elite division. The 10 winners in the men’s elite division will advance to the 2013 AIBA Men’s World Championships. 

Preliminary-round action begins Monday at HUB Sports in Liberty Lake, with sessions at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Preliminary competition will continue through Wednesday at the HUB with two sessions daily. The final schedule for each division will be determined following the event draw, but semifinal bouts will take place Thursday and Friday.

Tournament competition will move to Northern Quest Resort & Casino for the last two days of boxing action on Friday and Saturday with two sessions taking place on both days.

In the women’s field, 17 of the 24 boxers who competed in the first U.S. Olympic trials for women will return for this event.

For the second straight year, the USA Boxing National Championships will be an open tournament in both the men’s and women’s divisions. Athletes don’t qualify through their local and regional tournaments to compete in the event, as had been the case in the past.

Jim Allen