Cuba could allow Kindelan onto Khan’s coaching team

HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba could give retired twice Olympicchampion Mario Kindelan permission to help train Amir Khan atthe start of the Briton’s professional career.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the request were made and itwas granted. We could consider it,” Humberto Rodriguez,president of Cuba’s National Institute for Sport, PhysicalEducation and Leisure, said on Tuesday.

Rodriguez, who met Khan in Havana on Tuesday, said he hadnot received an official request for Kindelan to become part ofthe Briton’s training team.

“We’re not saying no or yes,” he said.

Communist-run Cuba is against professional sport and likesits sportsmen and women to adhere to a strict amateur code.

Kindelan won his second lightweight gold medal atconsecutive Olympic Games when he beat Khan in the final inAthens last year. The two fought again in Bolton, England inMay, and Khan, now 18, won.

The Cuban, three-times world champion between 1999 and2003, has since retired.

Khan is set to make his professional debut on July 16 inhis home town of Bolton.

He traveled to Cuba on Monday on the inaugural flight ofthe new London-Havana route of Virgin Atlantic Airways.