PARIS (Reuters) – Hungarian boxer Richard Kovacs is aiming not only to win a medal at the Paris Olympics, but also to bring happiness to the children he teaches in his homeland.
Kovacs, who beat Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Harry Garside of Australia in a lightweight round of 16 bout on Monday, teaches young children at a school in his hometown of Nyiregyhaza in Hungary.
“I’m a physical education and history teacher at a school for kids who are poor and in a disadvantaged situation,” Kovacs, who has said that he hopes to return to teaching in September, said with the help of an interpreter.
“I try to educate them and try to help them get out of this poverty. I try to give them positive lessons, both in school and in sports. I think they’re proud of me now (for being at the Olympics).
“If I brought home a medal for them, they’d look up to me even more and be happy, they would be influenced positively. But I don’t think that will change their fate. Their success does not depend on my success or me winning a medal,” he said.
Kovacs, 26, next faces either Rio Olympics silver medallist Sofiane Oumiha of France or Jordan’s Obada Alkasbeh in the quarter-finals, where a win would ensure a medal.
Asked about the possibility of fighting Oumiha, Kovacs said: “I’m going to fight a very good opponent.
“It’s going to be a close match. I’ll talk to the coaches about how I can deal with this French guy.”
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Paris; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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