Boxing-Former Seychelles coach dies |07 May 2005

Pozniac was the second Russian coach to work here and he was instrumental in guiding now retired Seychellois boxers like Ralph Labrosse, Rival Cadeau (now Payet), Jerry Legras and Roland Raforme into champions.

According to Ralph Labrosse, he tried phoning coach Pozniak a number of times but nobody answered the phone. The last time he tried phoning the late Pozniak, his son answered and he gave the former Seychellois champion the sad news that his father had died on February 3, 2005.

“I was shocked and the only thing I could tell him was ‘I’m sorry’. I have to call him back again sometime,” said Labrosse.
One of five Russian boxing coaches to have worked here, Pozniak, a light heavy-weight Olympic Games gold medallist in Mexico City in 1968, came to Seychelles in 1983 and spent five years here.

The first Russian coach to arrive here was Vladimir Nveski in 1980 and he came a month before the Seychelles team left for the Olympic Games in Moscow, USSR.

Then came Stanislav Stepashkin, featherweight Olympic Games gold medallist in Tokyo in 1964, Vladimir Simonov and Oleg Kouzmin.

G. G.