Zaba tourney on

Zimbabwe Amateur Boxing Association technical director, Petros Masiyambumbi, said the tournament will be their first tourney for this year.

“The tournament is being hosted by Bulawayo and as the national association we have blessed that event. We have extended invitation to all our provinces to come and support the tournament the reason being that we are sending a team for the Zone Four championships in South Africa from May 7 to 12 featuring countries from within the region, formerly Zone Six.

“The Zimbabwe National Army has officially confirmed their participation as well as Midlands, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South, for the first time, has confirmed their participation,” said Masiyambumbi.

Masiyambumbi said they were going to use the event to assess their team for the Zonal competition and urged female participants to compete in the tournament.
“We are going to have all weight categories for males and females as well. We are urging female boxers to come and this has been extended to the Zonal competition, they are requesting five female boxers from each country.

“The team might be there but we want to be sure after this tournament that we have the right people for the tournament. It’s an opportunity for us to take our best team to South Africa,” said Masiyambumbi.

The national association will also this month hold a Level Two coaching course in Harare as they look forward to a better season this year.
“We are looking forward to have coaching courses from April 15 to May 3 at One Commando and it’s open for everyone.

“We are saying this is the first time we are going to issue national certificates because we are intending to hold an international course some time this year. This course will be funded by the International Olympic Committee, through the Olympic Solidarity funding, and we have submitted our request to the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee because we have to apply through the national Olympic Committee. If approved our intention is to make sure that each and every province is represented.

“This was a directive from the International Boxing Association, they want all coaches to be standardised and no coaches will accompany a team without an AIBA recognised certificate. It’s going to be a Level Two, dealing with people who already have the experience and are in coaching,” said Masiyambumbi.