PRESS RELEASE

NIGERIA BOXING FEDERATION TO HOST BLACKBOMBERS IN FRIENDLY AMATEUR BOXING TOURNAMENT

In his bid to dislodge the emerging dwindling fortunes of West African Amateur Boxing Teams especially Ghana and Nigeria, Ambassador Ray Quarcoo, President of the Ghana Amateur Boxing Federation (GABF) has initiated a joint training program with Team Nigeria to effectively prepare both Teams ahead of the 2011 All Africa Games, 2011 AIBA World Boxing Championships as well as the 2012 London Olympic Games.
This initiative would also serve as a platform for the GABF to assess the performances of the Black Bombers after having put them through series of competitions; viz: Africa Zone II Championship (April 2011), ‘The Probables vrs The Possibles’(June 2011) and the National Unity Games(July 2011).
The friendly amateur boxing tournament which starts from 7th to 10th August, 2011 in Port Harcourt, Nigeria also reciprocates Ghana’s hospitality when the GABF hosted the Nigeria Boxing Team in a training tour last year in preparation towards the 2010 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships.
The Nigerian Boxing Federation will cater for our Team’s transportation to and from Nigeria, local transportation within Nigeria as well as accommodation and feeding.
The Black Bombers will be competing in 10 weight categories as follows:
Tetteh Sulemanu - 49Kg
Duke Akueteh Micah - 52Kg
Abdul Wahib Omar - 56Kg
Michael Offei Dodoo - 60Kg
Musah Rahman Lawson - 64Kg
Azumah Mohammed - 69Kg
Emmanuel Martey - 75Kg
Emmanuel Agyei Anim - 81Kg
David Bawah Akankolim - 91Kg
Haruna Osumanu - 91Kg+



Team Ghana will depart Ghana for Nigeria on Saturday, 6th August, 2011 and return home on Thursday, 11th August, 2011.

In the meantime, the Executive body of the Federation, is engaged in a drafting programme to pool together young talented Ghanaian born boxers across the world. As key objectives, this programme is specifically designed for the development of amateur boxing on the same model as the national soccer teams are constituted and is opened to all Ghanaians with boxing skills across the world. If well executed, performances of our boxers at international competitions will be enhanced. It will also ensure that young talented boxers go through a period of apprenticeship before they are considered to turn professionals, thereby departing from the old ways where amateur boxers are rushed into the paid ranks half-baked.
Interestingly, the Federation has already been in contact with three British -born Ghanaians boxers, namely; Norris Thompson (69 kg), J. Buatsi (81 kg) and Michael Amoo-Bediako (60 kg), who will join their compatriots in preparation for the 2011 All Africa Games, 2011 AIBA World Championships, which is a qualifier competition for the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Vigorously pursuing this initiative, the President of GABF on the invitation of Mr. Derek Mapp, Chairman of the British Amateur Boxing Association Limited will be traveling to the United Kingdom shortly after the friendly Ghana-Nigeria tournament, to meet the representatives of the Amateur Boxing Associations of England, Scotland and Wales.

SIGNED
Dominic Kankam
Secretary General
+233 273 202 946