By Bockarie Allieu
232News
_____________________________
The Executive of the Sierra Leone Boxing Association (SLBA) has presented the Boxing Competition Pamphlet to the Minister of Sports, Madam Augusta James Teima.
The Secretary General of the SLBA, Alhaji Komba disclosed that the Association will be organizing a two in one boxing competition in Freetown at the Sport Zone Complex at Aberdeen. That the two competitions will be National Championship and International Fight on the 26th and 27th April 2024.
He said that the competition would have taken place last year in Bo on the 25th of December but that unfortunately it was postponed and that they decided to change the venue.
He mentioned that fortunately, the Chief Minister, David M. Sengeh came to their aid and offer the Sport Zone complex to let the fight take place there for free. He said that they are in the Minister’s office as she is the mother and head of Sports to present the Pamphlet for the two competitions.
The presentation of the pamphlet was done by Sheka B. Mansaray who is based in the UK. In his presentation, he noted that the government of President Bio has done a lot to develop sports in the country, adding that they also want to add value to the values.
He said that they have met and discussed with the Chief Minister who welcomed the idea. He explained that for the International Fight, they will be having two boxers from the UK. One of them he said is Liam Symyth (Ginge- from Sherdend who is among top boxers in Europe will be fighting against Alusine Mansaray (Tommy Lee). The second boxer he said is Jon DP Shaw from UK who owns the UK Boxing in UK and will be fighting against Abu Bakarr Katta (Target) from Australia. He noted that the International Fight will bring bicultural exchange.
He disclosed that they have talked with the Mayor of Birmingham to partner with them noting that the partnership will bring professionals into boxing who will travel to Sierra Leone to help develop Boxing and other sports in different ways.
He said that Sierra Leone will gain a lot from these professionals through trainings and through acquiring of sports equipment.
The two UK Boxers he said will not just be in Sierra Leone to fight, but that they will also be helping to train the local coaches and boxers. That they will be travelling to Sierra Leone with boxing materials. “Apart from the UK Boxers there will also be boxers coming from Liberia and Guinea for the international fight. The national championship will start with the district eliminations in the regional headquarter town,” he said.
He explained that the competition will start on the 11th April in the South, on the 12th in the East, on the 14th in the North, on the 17th April in the North –West and on the 18thApril it will be in the Western Area.
That each of the regions will proceed with one male boxer for the round of 16 schedule to be held in Freetown. And that 10 female boxers will go into the semi-finals that will take place on the 25th and 26th April 2024 leading to the national championship finals on the 27th April 2024.
That the National Championship will enable the local coaches to select boxers for international competitions.
The Sports Minister commended the Boxing executive for their relentless effort to develop boxing in Sierra Leone and advised them to do massive sensitization to draw the attention to the public to the competition.
The date for the boxing competition she said is a good date as it serves as part of the independent celebration. She stated that even though the Executive did not ask for money but that organizing such competition entails money. She said they need to sit together and find ways and means to source money from the various business houses. It is barely two months now to the competition and they need to gear up said the Minister. The competition she said will be the beginning of a brighter future for Boxing in Sierra Leone.
