Matt Archibald, boxing competition manager for London 2012 on Wednesday spoke highly of Beijing's boxing facilities.

"Facilities in the Worker's Stadium are absolutely amazing! You will be impressed, I was very impressed!" said Archibald.

Matt made his tour to Ditan Stadium, the only training center for Olympic boxers, to look and learn from his Beijing peers of the experiences and efforts to build professional boxing facilities and offer professional services for the Olympics, in a bid to help the U.K. to hold a successful Olympics of its own when its turn comes in 2012.

"I was in the Worker's Stadium's indoor arena all day yesterday, and observed the final rehearsal to test some of the systems," he told Xinhua, "The venue is excellent. The crowd will be amazing, and you will be impressed."

The Worker's Stadium will be the place for the Olympic boxing matches slated from Aug. 9 to 24, with 11 gold medals coming from them.

Matt will also be working closely with the British boxing team to ensure their comfort in Beijing. The team is currently in Macao SAR for training, and will arrive in Beijing on Aug. 5. Then the team will be training in Ditan Stadium before and during the matches. "They will see how good the facilities are," said Matt.

The U.K. is dispatching eight boxers to fight for medals during this Olympics, with a target of two medals, said the British Olympic official.

Frankie Gavin, Champion of the 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships, is Britain's best hope for a gold medal. Its 51 kg, 69 kg, +91 kg boxers are also strong competitors for Olympic medals, according to Matt.

Britain's strong rivals include Cuba, Russia, China, France, Kazakhstan, Italy and the U.S., he said.

"China is extremely strong," he said. "We expect you to get three to four medals, with one champion at least."

He was also impressed with Zhang Zhilei, China's +91 kg boxer's performance during the 2007 World Championships.

"He will surely do well this time," the British official said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2008)