Plans are underway for Rwanda Amateur Boxing Association (Raba) to invite four countries for a boxing gala ahead of Rwanda’s international engagements. The tournament dubbed ‘the East Africa boxing championship’ is set to attract boxers from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and hosts Rwanda. Raba Technical Director Kananura Gashugi recently said that the championship slated for May will focus on preparing Rwanda’s youth and senior sides for this year’s African and World Championships. Other competitions on schedule include; World Youth Boxing Championship (May 22-31) in Armenia and the World senior championships in Italy. “The competition will help to access the level of our boxers,” Gashugi said. Meanwhile, Rwanda’s next Olympic hopefuls will have to face a rigid qualification format for the 2012 summer games in London, England. The Amateur International Boxing Association (Aiba) unveiled a new qualification system, which was approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne, Switzerland last weekend. Aiba will hold only one Olympic qualifying tournament for each continent. For the 2008 Beijing Games, Rwandan boxers went through two qualifiers but still failed to make it to Beijing. Only boxers born on in 1980 or after will be allowed to compete at the next Olympics. Performance and continental representation will be based on only Aiba qualifying tournaments for the next summer games in London. The dates for the next qualifier have been set for April 2-11, 2011. Ends
