Sports commentators have applauded the Malawi Boxing Association (MABA) for organizing a one-week camp training for the Malawi amateur boxers in Zambia.
The training is in preparation for the 2020 Africa Olympic qualifiers bouts that will take place in Senegal.
According to MABA president Pyson Likagwa, Malawi is expected to travel to Zambia on January 18 with eight players and will be the until January 25.
“Zambia requested that all the five countries taking part in the competition namely; Namibia, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana, should have a training camp tournament which we can use to select the best boxers for all the countries, which we thought it’s a good move and it will help us,” Likagwa explained.
“However, currently, we are just waiting for some funds from the Malawi government, including Malawi Olympic Committee, to also assist us with some funds for transportation, accommodation, and many more requirements.”
Innocent Dzatopetsa, sports commentator, lauded the training, saying is a good move for boxers to camp in Zambia.
Dzatopetsa said that it will allow them to acquire new skills, having interacted with boxers from other countries.
“We always lack such kind of initiatives,” said Dzatopetsa. “Unfortunately, we only organize when we have tournaments. Otherwise, it could be so helpful if we do this once in a while (having our athletes train outside) as one way of developing our boxing.
“Remember that these are amateur boxers and for us it could be a chance to develop the game to a higher level in Malawi but at the same time we hope our athletes can develop good boxing skills to compete highly at international level.”
Bright Lunda, sports journalist says; “It is going to be very helpful to Malawi boxers, because the camp will also expose them to certain environments and learn how our friends are doing out there. We know that what will matter is the kind of training they are going to have but hopefully this may positively affect the results for Malawi in Senegal.
“However, let me also advise the team going to Zambia to be serious and remember that Malawians will be waiting to hear good results from them.
“We should not hear any cases of fraud or mismanagement of the resources they are requesting from the government or any other organizations who are going to assist them. That normally dilutes trust.”
Another sports journalist, Promise Thom, echoed on the same: “We should also respond to the complaints from our boxers so that we can really improve our game and be able to compete highly at international stage.
“For example, you remember that there had been an issue to do with rings of which our boxers have been complaining for over times and I assume addressing that challenge could be a great progress.”
Thom adds, “It’s high time we started prioritizing some of these games. Other countries have developed just because of boxing, and it’s my hope that if we really address the challenges our boxers encounter, surely, we can have good results during competitions. But you see that almost in every tournament we lose.”
Malawi’s team of eight amateur boxers is preparing for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics which will be staged in Japan.
–maravipost.com
