SAM Ah-See wants to do what no Australian boxer has ever done before - win a gold medal at a Commonwealth Youth Games.
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The Mobsport Boxing member claimed a place in the Australian team on the weekend to compete at the 2008 Games in Pune, India.
Ah-See won three fights in his 64kg division at the Australian trials in Melbourne to impress the selectors.
The 17-year-old is calm about his upcoming adventure and is remaining focused on his goals.
“I want to win gold,” Ah-See said.
Australian boxers Omar Shaick (75kg) and Joel Brunker (57kg) won silver for Australia at the 2004 Games in Bendigo but no Aussie has claimed gold.
Ah-See took three injuries into the trials on the weekend but he still outclassed his opponents.
On Friday he defeated South Australia’s Dylan Dhamu.
“Sam was the favourite but we were told Dylan would be the one to beat,” Mobsport head trainer Jake Kenney said.
“I stopped Dylan in the third with two eight-counts. The ref called the match off,” Ah-See said.
On Saturday he defeated Western Australia’s Sean McLeod 14-1 after the fight went the four rounds.
In Sunday’s final Ah-See had to come from behind to beat Queensland’s Brody Kuhn 9-5.
The southpaw trailed the Queenslander 1-0 after the first round but Ah-See came back hard to secure the win.
Kenney said Ah-See showed great defence all weekend.
Ah-See will be part of an eight-man Australian team to compete at the Commonwealth Youth Games.
This will be the teenager’s first trip overseas and he will go to Thailand for a training camp with the team before heading to India.
He is expecting the English and Irish competitors to test him in the 64kg division.
Ah-See could be joined by his trainer, as Kenney has applied for the coach-manager position for the Australian team.
He will find out if he has been successful on Saturday.
The Commonwealth Youth Games is a trial for the 2010 Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi.
The Youth Games will run from October 12-18 with over 1300 athletes from 71 countries competing in nine sports.