The cities signed their final franchise agreements today at the first-ever joint meeting between the AIBA Executive Committee and all AIBA Commissions.

The agreements pave the way for the franchises to start recruiting their top national boxers, developing their brands and structuring their operations ready for the start of the first regular season of the WSB, which starts in November this year.

Proceedings respected strict alphabetical order as the first Asian franchise to sign the final agreement was Astana, Kazakhstan. AIBA President Dr. Ching-Kuo Wu stressed that Kazakhstan "was one of the first cities to agree to take a WSB franchise. The country has a very high standard of boxing and I am therefore very happy that it will have a team in the
tournament," he said.

Mr Jambulat Sarsenov, Vice-President of the Kazakhstan Boxing Association, thanked Dr. Wu for leading the efforts in this important project. "For us this is a new challenge and a new opportunity for our boxers," he said. "I hope it will be a new beginning for boxing in
Kazakhstan."

Representing the Baku franchise in Azerbaijan, Mr Suleyman Mikaylov, Vice-President of the Azerbaijan Boxing Federation, initialled the agreement. Dr. Wu expressed his gratitude for the federation's quick action "Azerbaijan only took the decision to take a WSB franchise at the AIBA President's Cup in Baku in December last year. Now, only a month later, they have
signed the agreement."

Mr Mikaylov said that "all boxers, coaches and national federations will benefit from this project because it is future-oriented. I would like to congratulate the whole AIBA family on this project."

China Boxing Industry Group CBIG is behind the Beijing franchise. Its Chairman, Li Hou Qiang, a former heavyweight boxer, formalised the WSB agreement. CBIG has been involved in the China Boxing market for over 10 years and its main focus is to develop an understanding of boxing and the sportsmanship associated with the sport throughout China.

Speaking on behalf of Li Hou Qiang, Mr Harris James, President of CBIG said that "CBIG is very proud to assist endeavours to develop boxing in China. Our Chairman has a passionate focus on developing the sport to bring personal satisfaction to boxers. There is a long and challenging road ahead but under the guidance of AIBA and the WSB I'm sure that the
tournament will be a great success."

Dr. Wu said "the fact that we are signing a Chinese franchise at a meeting being held in China is significant. Boxing is growing very fast in China and the Beijing WSB franchise will undoubtedly help the sport to develop even further."

The final franchise to sign was Delhi. Franchise owner Videocon Industries was the first organisation to commit to the WSB by signing the heads of agreement. The USD 2.5bn conglomerate was represented at the signing ceremony by its Chief Marketing Officer, Mr Sunil Tandon, who said that "Videocon looks forward to developing boxing on a global scale,
since we are present all over the world. The vision of Colonel Raja, the President of the Indian Boxing Federation, made the decision to commit to the World Series of Boxing easy. It was a 'no brainer'".