Tanzania to host Africa Zone Three boxing championships
Amateur boxers in action during a past competition. Tanzania will host the Africa Zone Three boxing championships from April 18 to 22 in Dar es Salaam. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- Apart from the hosts Tanzania, the championships will involve boxers from Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, DR Congo and Cameroon
Dar es Salaam. Fourteen countries are expecting to feature in the Africa Zone Three amateur boxing championships scheduled to start from April 18 to 22 at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium.
Apart from the hosts Tanzania, the championships will involve boxers from Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) and Cameroon.
Also on the list are Gabon, Chad, Central Africa Republic, Somalia, Ethiopia, Congo Brazzaville and Equatorial Guinea. The countries are required to field amateur boxers with 13 weight classes in men category and 12 in women category respectively.
BFT President, Lukelo Willilo said they are expecting to have exciting boxing events due to the fact that all countries are searching boxers who will compete in the Africa and world championships. Willilo said World Amateur boxing championships are scheduled to take place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from May 1 to 14 at Humo Arena while African Boxing Championships will be held from May 13 to 25 in Yaounde, Cameroon.
He said that already BFT has already named 22 amateur boxers ahead of the Africa’s Zone Three championships to be held in the country.
The boxers and their weight in brackets are male boxers Karim Juma (Minimum weight), Yohana Kenneth (Flyweight), Abdallah Salum (Bantamweight), Hassan Waziri (Featherweight) and Rashid Mrema who will fight in Lightweight category,
Others are Alex Isendi and Mohamed Swalehe (Light Welterweight), Athanas Ndiganya (Welterweight), Joseph Phillip and David Chanzi (Light Middleweight), and Joshua Shadrack who will fight in Middleweight.
Also in the list are Yusuf Changarawe and Nizza Abdulrahman (Light Heavyweight), Alphonse Abel (Middleweight), Geoffrey Peter (Cruiserweight), and Alex Sitta who will fight in Super Heavyweight category.
Female boxers selected for the national squad are Rahma Maganga (Minimumweight), Mariam Richard (Light Flyweight), Shakira Abdallah (Flyweight), Aisha Iddi and Leila Yazidu (Bantamweight), and Beatrice Ambrose who will fight in Lightweight.
The boxers are under coaches Samwel Kapungu who possess IBA 1 Star boxing license, Rogata Damian (IBA 1 Star), Hassan Mzonge, Mussa Mohamed Undule Lang’son, and Haji Abdallah. The Technical Committee involves Michael Changarawe from Mwanza and Robert Sululu from Dar es Salaam.
