Sheefeni Nikodemus
31 May 2011
Namibia’s amateur boxing team captain, Tobias Munihango, said yesterday that the fighters are becoming increasingly demoralised after being told they cannot compete at the African Boxing Championships which start on Thursday in Yaounde, Cameroon.
‘The Rose of Katima’ told The Namibian Sport yesterday that the fighters’ morale had taken a “big knock” because they had done their part by qualifying for the continental boxing showpiece. Munihango along with six others earned their place at the championships following their third-place finish at the African Zone IV Boxing Championships in Gaborone last month.
However, it has since transpired that the Namibia Amateur Boxing Federation does not have the resources to send the fighters to Cameroon.
“They are breaking us,” Munihango said. He added that they had planned to use the tournament as a yardstick for upcoming events.
“We worked hard to qualify for the African Championships and now we can’t go.
“We are very disappointed because we used our own resources to prepare for the Zone Four tournament in Botswana and we won seven medals. Now we are being told that there is no money.”
NABF secretary general Joe Kaperu confirmed that the trip to Yaounde was off. He said the federation had instead chosen to forego the championships and shift their priority to other competitions.
“We are not sending a team to the African Boxing Championships,” said Kaperu. “We lack funds. We are looking at the All Africa Games in September and qualification for the Olympics in Casablanca in April next year.
“There is also the World Championships in Azerbaijan in September. We though it wise to prepare locally for these events due to a lack of funds.”
Munihango also said that the amateur boxers lacked proper training equipment and this hampered their preparation for tournaments.
“Our training gear is old,” he said. “We have to borrow from the pros but they expect us to do well when we participate internationally.”
AllAfrica – All the Time
Taken from:
You Are Breaking Our Spirit – Munihango