BFT secretary general Mashaga Makore

The National Boxing Team will fly out this evening for Casablanca, Morocco to compete in the 2012 London Olympic Games qualifier event for African region.

Four boxers will make the trip to Casablanca for the week-long qualifiers that start on Sunday. Boxing Federation of Tanzania (BFT) Secretary General Makole Mashaga said they have selected boxers who are committed, young and also skillful.

The boxers making the trip to Casablanca are Selemani Kidunda (69kg) welterweight, Emmilian Patrick (56kg) bantamweight, Abdallah Salum Said (52) flyweight and Victorian Njaiti (64kg) featherweight.

The team is under the tutelage of Remmy Ngabo, who along with another BFT official Michael Changarawe will make the trip to Casablanca. The team has been camping at Filbert Bayi School in Mkuza, Kibaha for the past two months.   Only 52 slots are reserved for African zone in the London Games, while Europe has 78, America 54, Asia 56 and Oceania 10.

There will be 10 men’s boxing weights at London 2012 and for the first time, three women’s events will join them on the card. The new women’s events are at flyweight (48-51kg), light-welterweight (57-60kg) and light-heavyweight (69-75kg).

The Olympic boxing competition allows each country to send up to 10 men and three women (one boxer per event) to the Games.  To take part, athletes must have been born between 1 January 1978 and 31 December 1995, making 16 the minimum age for competitors.

Source Tanzania Daily News

Do you have a story or an article to publish? Please email us to submit@in2eastafrica.net.