Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 13 January 2022, Tashkent hosted the premiere of a documentary film dedicated to the legend and founder of boxing in Uzbekistan, Sidney Jackson.

The premiere of the documentary was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Olympic Committee of the Republic, the Federation of Professional and Amateur Boxing, the Federation of Savat (French Boxing), coaches and athletes of the Republican College of Olympic Reserve, representatives of the Agency for Youth Affairs, veterans of Uzbek boxing, famous athletes and media representatives.

The event was opened by the Deputy Minister of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Uzbekistan U. Azamov.

“Today, our country can rightly be proud of the famous school of Uzbek boxing, the strongest in the entire Central Asian space, which, in fact, grew out of the legendary boxing school of Sydney Jackson. On the part of the state, thanks to the initiatives of the head of our state Shavkat Mirziyoyev, there is tireless support for domestic boxing in order to further improve the system for identifying, selecting and selecting talented athletes in the republic, improving the training and material incentives for specialists in this field, as well as maintaining and continuing to occupy the leading positions of the Uzbek boxing in the world.

The Ambassador of the United States of America to the Republic of Uzbekistan, Mr. Daniel Rosenblum, also delivered a welcoming speech at the event in the format of a video message.

The Uzbek boxing school is famous all over the world today. Our athletes from year to year bring new victories, defending the honor and dignity of Uzbekistan in international sports arenas. Bakhodir Jalolov, Hasanboy Dustmatov, Shakhram Giyasov, Murodjon Akhmadaliev, Shakhobiddin Zoirov are young stars of the national boxing. In each of their achievements, the painstaking and invaluable work of mentors and coaches has been invested. After all, the victory of each athlete is, in fact, the victory of his mentor, his great contribution to the development of the skill of his ward. The rise of Uzbek boxing has been going on for many years.

And in all this, the great merit of the founder of the first Uzbek boxing school, the outstanding American-Uzbek coach Sydney Jackson. The new documentary film "The Phenomenon of Sydney Jackson" was filmed in the Tashkent film studio "Shayxontaxur-film" by a creative team led by the scriptwriter and producer of the picture B Babaev, with the financial support of "Orient Finans Bank" and "Golden house", the authorship of which was transferred to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The life story of Sydney Jackson is a vivid example of selflessness and devotion to his beloved work, even in conditions of hopelessness and life away from his homeland. Permanently living in Tashkent, during the harsh war years, he was able to create the “Sydney Jackson Boxing School”, which operates to this day and has grown not one galaxy of famous athletes.

Many important pages in the life and work of the legendary coach in Uzbekistan are told in the film by his daughter, now living in Tashkent, Paina Jackson, the chief specialist of the Boxing Federation of Uzbekistan Malik Babaev, the head coach of the Uzbek national boxing team Marat Kurbanov, students of Sydney Jackson - legends and boxing veterans Rifat Riskiev, Mirsalikh Sagatov, Rinat Yusupov and many others.

We are sure that the story recreated in this picture will find its response in the heart of every viewer and will become a worthy example for many novice athletes and mentors, regardless of the type and direction of sports activity and place of residence. The event was organized by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Uzbekistan, State Unitary Enterprise "National PR-Center".