The Botswana Boxing Association (BOBA)’s secretary General, Willoughby Kemoen, says 2011 is the association’s high levels target year.
Speaking in an interview with Standard Sport, the BOBA spokesperson said his association will intensify its activities for the year while at the same time stepping up preparations for both regional and international competitions.
“This year, we will be implementing our competitive action plan which we have adopted. Locally, for this year alone, we will have at least 15 national interclub competitions to qualify for national championships. Regionally, we want to do well at the Zone 4 championships, the All Africa Games and prepare well for the Olympic games,” Kemoen says.
According to the BOBA secretary general, this year’s local competitions have been spread across the country “as a way of taking boxing to Batswana”.
He says their wish is that by taking the sport to other areas, new clubs will be formed along the way to increase participation in boxing. He further said that they are also looking at ways in which they can give local clubs as much support as possible to strengthen their structures.
“This will be done through training their coaches and their administrators. We will also continue to give them equipment every two years to help them,” Kemoen said.
On other issues, the BOBA spokesperson says the association intends to help their youth national team athletes to reach desired growth in the sport. He says based on the junior team’s display at the end of the year Supreme Council of Sport in Africa (SCSA) games in Swaziland, BOBA intends to put them through proper developmental structures to prepare them for future games.
Kemoen says they have already met as BOBA executive committee to plan the way forward in regards to how best to help their developmental teams.
Regarding the national team, Kemoen says none of the national team players is assured of a permanent place in the set up, adding that boxers will have to convince BOBA and qualify if they are to be considered. He, however, says there are some boxers they are eyeing for the national team and some of them will be in action in the inaugural President’s Cup due later this year. He says for the inaugural challenge, which will be used as part of the national team’s preparations, they are looking for a reputable European team to fight against the local lads. In other developments, Kemoen says a coach has already been appointed to lead the senior national team. Save for saying the coach is well known and reputable, the BOBA spokesperson declined to name him, saying the announcement will be made at the association’s upcoming Annual General meeting on the 19th of February. He says the coach will be in charge when the national team goes on duty during the Africa Cup in May, All Africa Games as well as the Zone 4 championships, which will be hosted by Namibia.
