The cooperation between the Kyiv Boxing Federation and the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture opens up new opportunities for the comprehensive development of students. This partnership is a model of how the academic and sports worlds can come together to achieve a common goal. This opinion was expressed by Oleksandr Nehoda, President of the Kyiv Boxing Federation, and Petro Kulikov, Rector of the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency in Kyiv on Thursday.

According to Oleksandr Nehoda, the state's support of Ukrainian athletes at international competitions is insufficient.

"The state and the Ministry (of Youth and Sports - ed.) allocate funds, and there is also support for young athletes through universities, but this is usually not enough. When we were preparing to participate in the European Games, the funding for meals per day per athlete was 410 hryvnias. With such funds, it is impossible to follow a specialized sports diet. Therefore, we (Kyiv Boxing Federation - ed.) had to purchase a significant part of the food on our own. The same applies to other supplies for the athletes," Nehoda emphasized.

According to the KFB President, the problem of financing high-quality training of athletes requires a systematic approach from both the state and private sponsors and patrons.

In his turn, the rector of the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, Petro Kulikov, emphasized that his university has created a unique system of support for youth sports and healthy lifestyles, and is improving its sports infrastructure.

"In recent years, KNUBA has hosted several major boxing tournaments among youth and juniors. In addition, we have developed a unique system of cooperation with the Kyiv Boxing Federation and provide premises and training facilities for both accommodation and training of young athletes. To this end, when we opened the stadium, we also opened a hotel with 50 beds to accommodate athletes from different regions of Ukraine," he said.

Mr. Kulikov also emphasized that cooperation with sports federations should be one of the main areas of development for Ukrainian universities. This is due to both the need to popularize sports and healthy lifestyles among young people and the need to create a strong training base for Ukrainian athletes to participate in international competitions.

"Thanks to our cooperation with federations, sports such as football, basketball and boxing have begun to reach students on a large scale. My fellow rectors and I are doing our best to develop sports in our educational institutions, hold competitions and build sports facilities even in this difficult time," the rector summarized.

Oleksandr Nehoda added that thanks to Kulikov's initiative and the existing infrastructure, KNUBA managed to keep many promising boxers in Ukraine, including the Ukrainian youth champion Bohdan Gorgol, who won all his fights ahead of schedule.

"During all of our recent tournaments, we have been proving to both juniors and their parents that the educational and sports facilities created at KNUBA allow not only boxing, but also high-quality higher education, as KNUBA provides preferential admission to students of our boxing school. So, this year 15 of our boys and girls became students. In addition, it is interesting that the leaders of the Kyiv team today are largely from other regions of Ukraine, who, thanks to the KNUBA facilities, can both study and develop in boxing," Nehoda emphasized.

In his opinion, the development of student boxing is of utmost importance, as this sport is the foundation of both Olympic and professional boxing.