COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. (JULY 1, 2016) – Only one opportunity remains for Team USA’s remaining unqualified male boxers to clinch their spots in the 2016 Olympic Games. The four American boxers competing in the WSB/APB Olympic Qualification Event July 3-8 in Vargas, Venezuela will be welterweight Paul Kroll (Philadelphia, Pa.), light heavyweight Jonathan Esquivel (Anaheim, Calif.), heavyweight Cam F. Awesome (Lenexa, Kansas) and super heavyweight Brandon Lynch (Albany, N.Y.). Kroll and Esquivel need to finish in the top three to qualify for the Olympic Games while Awesome and Lynch need to win the overall tournament to earn a spot in Brazil.
The official tournament draw was completed on Saturday afternoon in Vargas and the brackets are now set for all of the event’s competitors. Lynch will open the tournament for Team USA in a first round bout with Ukraine’s Rostyslav Arkhypenko tomorrow in the 5 p.m. session at the Domo Jose Maria Vargas. He will be the only American boxer competing in Sunday’s action.
The remaining three U.S. boxers will step in to the ring on Monday at the APB/WSB Olympic Qualifying Event. Esquivel and Awesome will box in the early session at 11 a.m. ET, facing Bulgaria’s Spas Genov and Ecuador’s Julio Cesar Castillo Torres respectively. Kroll will box in the evening session at 5 p.m. ET in a match with Germany’s Arajik Marutjan.
2016 Olympic coaches Kay Koroma (Alexandria, Va.) and Augie Sanchez (Las Vegas, Nev.) will lead the U.S. team at the final qualifier. Brandon Walker (Colorado Springs, Colo.) will serve in the Team Manager role at his second straight qualifier. Dana Johnston (Colorado Springs, Colo.) has joined the team as the athletic trainer as well.
Kroll, Esquivel, Awesome, Sanchez, Johnston and Walker all traveled from Azerbaijan to Houston for a brief training camp before heading down to Venezuela on Wednesday. Koroma and Lynch joined them in Texas earlier this week before the team flew south for the tournament.
U.S. Opening Bouts
152 lbs/69 kg: Paul Kroll, Philadelphia, Pa., vs. Arajik Marutjan, GER
178 lbs/81 kg: Jonathan Esquivel, Anaheim, Calif., vs. Spas Genov, BUL
201 lbs/91 kg: Cam F. Awesome, Lenexa, Kansas vs. Julio Cesar Castillo Torres, ECU
201+ lbs/91+ lbs: Brandon Lynch, Albany, N.Y., vs. Rostyslav Arkhypenko, UKR