WYNDHAM warrior Ibrahim Balla has secured a ticket to London for his maiden Olympic Games.
The Werribee-trained and raised boxer (above) hailed his qualification for Australia’s boxing team as a “dream come true”.
The 22-year-old, who now lives in Plumpton, overcame an exhaustive selection process, which dictated that the Australian and Oceania champion in the 56-kilogram class would represent this region at the Olympics.
Balla is still trying to grasp the reality of the situation.
“It still hasn’t sunk in,” he told the Weekly. “You can’t describe what I’m feeling. I’m just happy to be going.”
Balla took the AIBA Oceania Olympic Qualifying Event in Canberra by storm. The Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder’s favouritism heading into the titles was certainly justified.
A bloodied New Zealand southpaw Gage Brown was blasted out of the ring in a lopsided final with a 19-8 scoreline awarded to Balla.
“I boxed well on the day,” Balla said. “It’s a good achievement [to be Oceania champion].”
Balla’s dad and trainer, Nuri Balla, was super impressed with his charge.
He said that for 12 years he had seen his son training at Balla’s Boxing Gym and showed total dedication to getting the best out of mind and body.
Nuri said his son was prepared to the nth degree at the AIS and should be considered a medal chance at London. “He was very fit, he looked good and had a good six-week preparation at the AIS. He was a bit too strong, too quick and had better skills than the other boxers,” he said.
“He’ll give it everything [at the Olympics]. I think my son could go all the way.”
Balla, who is training at a camp in China with his teammates at the AIS, will go into the Olympics with a truckload of confidence.
The 2010 Australian Commonwealth Games representative made his intentions loud and clear of wanting to replicate his gold medal performances at the nationals and Oceania titles on the grandest of stages.
“I’m not going to just make up the numbers. I’ve always got confidence going into competition. You’ve got to believe you can do it.”
