China's Wu Di elected vice president of Asian Boxing Confederation
China's Wu Di was elected as the new vice president of the Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC) at the ASBC General Assembly on Wednesday in Bangkok.
Thirty-six delegations voted, with Wu receiving 27 votes in the first round, winning the position with absolute majority. Honorary President of the Boxing Association of South Korea Jae Joon-yoo received 14 votes in the second round.
Wu and Jae will join Yousuf Ali Al-Kazem of Qatar (first vice president of the ASBC) and Pichai Chunhavajira of Thailand (second vice president of the ASBC) to become the third and fourth vice presidents of the organization respectively.
Anthony Fowler of British Lionhearts (R) in action with Zhou Di of China Dragons (L) in the Middleweight 69-75kg fight of the World Series of Boxing at York Hall, January 15, 2015. /VCG Photo
Wu is the former vice president of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) and former vice president of Chinese Boxing Federation. When campaigning for the ASBC post, Wu promised that he and BMA China will focus on event and athlete development, infrastructure building and promoting boxing among teenagers to help boxing in Asia catch up with its international counterparts and bring more attention to Asia in the boxing world.
Wu is also a businessman and an entrepreneur. In addition, he is a deputy to the provincial People's Congress in east China's Fujian, and the chairman and president of Good First Group. In 2014, he started BMA China to work with the AIBA by investing 38 million Swiss francs (about 37.45 million U.S. dollars) to host over 50 boxing games, including the AIBA Pro Boxing (APB) and the World Series of Boxing (WSB) in China.
According to China News, BMA China also signed a cooperation deal with Grand Slam Asian Championship to launch a new top boxing event that will attract the best boxers in Asia. The event is reportedly taking place in the second half of 2019.