Boxing Federation of Kenya (BFK) boss Anthony Otieno alias Jamal was on Monday evening elected the President of Africa Zone Three Boxing in a closely contested race pitting Anglophone and Francophone speaking nations.
The 43 year old former heavyweight pugilist defied all odds to overcome strong opposition from the President of Congo Brazzaville Boxing Association Nkodia Kynd Gaetan after round one of the vote had ended in a tie of 5-5.
Otieno, a Nairobi-based entrepreneur with interest in real estate, transport and petroleum industry has assured the continental boxing fraternity that he will use his passion for the sport and global networks to push for development of the game in Africa.
“I will work closely with Africa Boxing Confederation (AFBC) President Mr Betrand Mendunga and IBA President Mr Umar Kremlev to ensure that we provide boxing equipment to all federation members of the zone as well as organize courses for coaches, referees & judges. This will go along way to develop our beloved sport in the zone and with cooperation of all the federations I’m confident we are going to succeed together as zone 3. Thank you all, God bless you and God bless Africa zone 3” he said.
Jamal becomes the President of Africa Zone 3 a position that was previously held by the current President of The Africa Boxing Confederation (AFBC) Betrand Mendunga of Cameroon on interim basis.
Through Ndondi Mashinani initiative,Jamal who was elected the President of BFK in June 2019 taking over from John Kameta has been working on a program of equipping gyms in different neighborhoods in various parts of the country to encourage more boxers who have the passion but lack facilities to join the sport and sharpen their talent.
In April this year,the national boxing team, the Hit Squad, finished second with 17 medals; six gold, five silver and six bronze at the Africa Zone III Boxing Championships that took place in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Their good outing was marked with great improvement from last year’s event where they collected 11 medals; open gold, five silver and seven bronze.
Africa Zone 3 consist of the Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, DRC, Congo Brazzaville, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Burundi & Rwanda.
–kbc.co.ke
