RWANDA Amateur Boxing Association (Raba) will host the annual national boxing championship in Kigali from August 12-14 at Amahoro indoor stadium. The Raba technical director Gashugi Kananura told Times Sport yesterday, “The championship will attract many boxers and seeks to pick the best boxers for different African and international competitions.” “We believe it will be a success because clubs had ample time to prepare for the championship. The objective of the competition is to select the best fighters, who will ably represent Rwanda in various competitions later in the year,” added the veteran national team coach. He noted that they want to pick the best boxers and then engage them in early preparations. Some of the upcoming competitions in which Rwanda is likely to be represented include; the 2013 Africa Amateur Boxing Championship in Port Louis (Mauritius) from September 1-7, World Junior Championships in Kiev, Ukraine from September 5 to 16 and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. This will be the second major championship that the local boxing body has organised this year. Early this year, Raba took the route of spotting and nurturing young talent as a way of preparing for 2016 Olympic Games to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The two-day talent search tournament at Amahoro stadium for boxers aged between eight and 16 was designed to help scout for players with great potential, who would then receive maximum attention. Last year’s London Olympic Games were already a lost cause weeks before the showpiece as last-minute preparations meant that boxers Jean Maurice Bikorimana and Rwanda’s first recognised female pugilist Pascaline Mugabekazi all missed out on qualification. Among the clubs expected to compete in the national championship include; Kimisagara, Remera, Inkuba, No Limits, Rafiki and Masaka Boxing Clubs.
