RAVEN Chapman will continue her pursuit of a golden future when she enters combat with some of the world’s best amateur boxers this weekend.

Chapman, who represents Bournemouth’s Arena Boxing Club, launches her bid for glory at the prestigious Golden Girl Championship in Sweden today.

Fresh from progressing to the quarter finals at last November’s European Championship, this is the Dorset fighter’s latest step on the road to Australia’s Gold Coast, where she aims to hunt down the most precious metal at next year’s Commonwealth Games.

First, though, to Boras, a small city roughly 40km east of Gothenburg.

The surroundings may be low key, but Chapman will be in exalted company. This competition attracts more than 270 participants, drawn from 20 countries.

Medals are on offer in 10 weight classes, of which the 23-year-old’s elite featherweight division is the most demanding.

Chapman told the Daily Echo: “It’s the most popular category, so it’ll be nice and competitive. That’s how I like it, I want to feel I’ve worked for anything I get.

“Boxing at the Europeans has helped ease my nerves. When you’ve experienced a bigger tournament, you understand the environment and the way it’s organised.”

There was little time for Chapman to find her feet in Scandinavia following her arrival yesterday.

Her first bout is this evening, soon after the all-important weigh in. Chapman believes she will be bang on the 57kg limit, a confidence rooted in her meticulous, exhausting training schedule.

Happily, she is also free of an illness that has dogged her since her trip to Bulgaria for that European competition two months ago – and she is aching to lace up her gloves again.

“That’s what you work hard for, it’s what you want to do,” says Chapman. "It’s been six weeks of intense training, with a little break in between.

“After I got ill in Bulgaria it lingered for a couple of months, I had a tight chest and was finding it difficult to breathe – but I think it has cleared up now.

“I pushed through even harder than normal when I was feeling ill, then I had a weekend off to recover. I’m feeling so much better now, which only makes me even more confident.”

Theoretically, there is extra pressure to catch the judges’ eyes in Sweden, with a clutch of extra prizes up for grabs – uppermost, the Golden Girl title, awarded to the boxer who most dazzles across the three days.

That side of things, says Chapman, can take care of itself. She does, though, fancy matching her pugnacious style against the comparably spirited Natalya Samokhina, the Russian she saw claim European bronze in Sofia.

“If I fight her it could be an explosive bout, she has a similar, aggressive style to me,” says Chapman.

“You go out there and box how you box. If the judges like that, then great.

“When I’m sparring I get good feedback from people who haven’t seen me before. They like my style.

“I guess I’m quietly confident, but that (Golden Girl title) doesn’t mean as much to me as winning my weight category.”