Standing Tall in Ring, Kneeling to King

"This tournament became for us a good test of strength before the World Championship and license competitions for the right to go to the Sydney Olympics. In fact, there were no run-of-the-mill bouts. Just imagine: on his way to the semifinals, Valery Sydorenko from Enerhodar had to eliminate from the tournament world and Olympic champion Angel Petrov from Bulgaria, but this proved insufficient for victory, and he only finished third.

"Simferopol-based Serhiy Dotsenko took the same place, while Andriy Kotelnyk from Lviv, "assisted" by the judges, lost to a tournament host in the final bout. So one only had to win in those tight conditions, as Valery Sydorenko's brother Volodymyr did: he floored all his rivals with powerful knockout punches.

"As to the team ranking, my pupils only came third after the squads of Cuba and the tournament hosts. However, the latter might regard it as good compensation for having to go by the podium with their monarch only on their knees, as stipulated by etiquette. And as a token of gratitude, 72 year-old King Rama IX (originally named Bhumibol Adulyadej or Phumiphon Adulet) of Thailand, after braving the 46-degree heat during all final bouts, personally handed the second place trophy to his subjects."