ATHENS-bound Amir Khan is being tipped to eclipse British heroes Audley Harrison and Ricky Hatton after catapulting himself onto the world stage.

The 17-year-old Bury Boxing Club wonderboy became the first English boxer to qualify for the Olympic Games this summer after taking the gold medal in the Strandja Cup qualifying tournament in Bulgaria at the weekend.

In doing so he becomes the youngest Olympic boxing representative since Welshman Colin Jones reached Montreal in 1976.

Not bad for someone who is still too young to compete in ABA competition in this country!

But the meteoric rise to prominence of the level-headed Bolton-based lightweight comes as no surprise to ABA Director of Development Paul King.

"I have watched his progress very carefully and seen him win every major junior title," he said.

"So many kids come through at this rate of knots but to transfer that onto the international stage is a very hard thing to do.

"I've never seen anyone do that as easily as Amir.

"He is already much further on than Audley (Harrison) or Ricky (Hatton) were at his age as they were late developers.

"So he has plenty of time on his side too."

His opponent in the final, Azerbaijan's Rovshan Hysynov, withdrew, giving Khan a walkover for the coveted gold.

Yet, just getting past the semi-final stages of the competition, when he comfortably outpointed Romanian Adrian Alexandrou 46-27, guaranteed the Bolton College student a place on the plane to Greece.

He got the tournament, held in Plovdiv, off to a flyer when he showed the mental strength to overcome Georgian adversary Avtandil Kashia in his opening bout last Thursday.

Avtandil was given a widely discredited 29-20 points decision over him in the European Championships in Pula, Croatia last month, a result that left both Khan and his Bury ABC coach Mike Jelley bitterly disappointed.

The defeat blocked his first route to the Olympics, but he wasn't to be denied this time and on this occasion he avenged that 'defeat' by convincingly getting the nod 40-18.

A day later, Armenian Avoyan Bagrat became the next unfortunate competitor to get some of the Khan treatment going out on the 'outclassed' rule to set the Amir up for his do-or-die confrontation with the Romanian.

There is no doubting that the talented youngster has made a massive impact on the British amateur boxing scene in the last twelve months.

English ABA team manager Peter Hayes has described his potential as "frightening" and such was his whirlwind progress, he was fast-tracked into the English senior squad after a series of impressive displays.

He swept the board in his age group last year by taking gold at both the European Cadets and European Students Championships and winning the Junior ABAs (Class 5) and the International Junior Olympics.

But it was January this year that people really began to sit up and take notice when he picked up a gold medal in his first taste of senior competition the Adidas Box Gala in Germany.

That feat alone proved without a doubt that the step up to senior competition would be no problem for him.

Three of Germany's top performers were convincingly defeated, including Martin Dressen who won a bronze medal in the World Championships last year and Enrico Wagner who'd won the German championships in November.

Amir's success is a real feather in the cap for Jelley and the Bury club who recently moved premises to the Seedfield Centre.

His father Joe "Pop" Jelley founded the organisation 69 years ago and he admits that sending one of their lads to the Olympics is the biggest achievement in the club's long history.

"My dad would have been very proud of Amir's achievement as it's a great honour for the club and the town," he said.

"But the lad deserves all his success, he is so dedicated, level headed and a very quick learner.

"You only have to tell him something once and he picks it up, his potential is immense.

"He won the best boxer in the competition trophy in Bulgaria and it was only the third time in 55 years that it had left the country.

"A Russian won it in 1971 and a Cuban in 1982 - that's not bad going for a 17-year-old!"

Backed to the hilt by his mum and dad Shajaad and Falak, Amir will be watched all the way by his kid brother Haroon who is also one to watch in the boxing ring.

The 12-year-old - who also represents Bury ABC - was narrowly beaten in the final of the National Schoolboys Championships two weeks ago.

His victor, by a narrow 4-3 points margin, was George Langley of the world-famous Repton Boys Club, London.

Ironically Amir lost to an opponent from the same club in the exact same final at that age five years earlier.

"There's no doubt that Haroon has just as much potential as Amir had at that age," added Jelley.

"He has the know-how, it just remains to be seen if he has the drive and dedication of his older brother.

"I thought he'd just nicked it in the final but it wasn't to be.

"He tried his best and boxed brilliantly, that's all you can ask for."