The Khomas Boxing Federation (KBF) will host an amateur boxing tournament on Friday and Saturday at the After-School Centre in Windhoek, where a team will be selected to represent the region at the National Championships.
Speaking at a press conference here on Thursday, KBF spokesperson Johannes Mbenge said the Khomas Regional Championships aimed to select senior and youth amateur boxers (male and female), who will represent the region at the National Championships scheduled for later this year.
“After these nationals, another team will be selected to represent Namibia at events like the All Africa Games, Region Five and other international tournaments,” he said.
Mbenge said the Khomas Region has nine different clubs that will participate with over 40 boxers expected to trade leather in a bid to get selected into the regional team.
These boxing matches will be in different categories, where the region will be expected to provide a bulk of boxers at the national championships.
Mbenge added that these nine clubs do not include the army, police or correctional service clubs.
Mbenge said as a region, they did not hold as many boxing tournaments as they would have liked because of lack of funds, but assured the public that they are working around the clock to improve the situation.
“We are grateful to those that help us from time to time as we strive to use the sport of boxing to teach our youth discipline while allowing them to showcase their skills,” he said.
Meanwhile, KBF executive committee manager for finance, Mujandjae Kasuto called on the “powers that be” to work around the clock in amending the Sports Act to allow women to participate in professional boxing.
“AIBA (International Boxing Association) already allows women to box, and we are affiliated with them. These allow gender inclusivity, but our Sports Act does not allow women to box at a professional level, only at amateur level,” he explained.
He further stated that the Namibia Professional Boxing and Wrestling Control Board is aware of this conundrum as the boxing rules from all boxing authorities outside Namibia come through them.
A total of 10 divisions in both men and women will be contested.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
