A young Hungarian boxer, who was born deaf, has against the odds booked his ticket to the Beijing Olympics.
Norbert Kalucza, 21, one of seven children born into a poor gypsy family from Debrecen, eastern Hungary, will compete along with the world's best in the flyweight category this summer.
Suffering from congenital deafness like most of his family members, Kalucza did not learn to speak until the age of 10.
But once he pulled on his gloves as a child his world changed as he overcome his first hurdle by voicing his first words shortly after entering the ring.
"It was the former Olympic bronze medalist Janos Varadi who discovered Norbert's talent," said his mother, Marie.
Varadi, who is a neighbor of the family, won a bronze medal in the flyweight division at the 1980 Olympics.
And he helped the young Kalucza obtain the necessary medical certificates to pursue his passion despite his disability.
Kalucza, thanks to his lethal right punch, collected medals at junior level, winning the Hungarian junior title in 2005, before moving up to senior level where he had equal success winning the -51 kg in 2006 and -54kg last year.
By booking his ticket to the Beijing Olympics thanks to his victory over Germany's Marcel Schneider, Kalucza has "achieved a dream," even if his celebrations were somewhat tempered by his stringent training program and diet.
"I weigh 57kg and have to go down to 51kg for competitions. If I didn't have to follow this diet I would win the gold medal," Kalucza said.
He says his dream is to emulate his hero "Koko" -- Hungary's former Olympic champion and professional boxer Istvan Kovacs -- won won bronze in the flyweight category at the 1992 Olympics before taking bantamweight gold in 1996.
The modest young boxer reluctantly admits that he has become an example for the young people of his town.
And his mother, Marie, and father, Joseph, are convinced that their son -- a carpenter by profession -- is someone who can make his mark on the world.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
THRILLER: Raphinha gave Barca a 3-2 lead with two minutes remaining of regular time, but Francesco Acerbi equalized the game in the second minute of added time Davide Frattesi on Tuesday fired Inter into the UEFA Champions League final with an extra-time winner that gave the Italians a stunning 4-3 triumph over Barcelona, 7-6 on aggregate. Italy midfielder Frattesi won a tie for the ages under a downpour in Milan when he lashed home in the 99th minute, sending a packed and rocking San Siro wild with joy. Simone Inzaghi’s team will face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month in Munich, Germany, where they would feel they have a great chance to be crowned kings of Europe for a fourth time after
RSS