Boxing provides big Olympic lesson
Apr 06, 2008
IF all the fundraising effort and training for the Bombers had started three months earlier, one can safely say Uganda would be fielding more than the one boxer who has qualified to enter the ring at the Beijing Olympics.
Opinion - By louis Jadwong, Sports Editor
IF all the fundraising effort and training for the Bombers had started three months earlier, one can safely say Uganda would be fielding more than the one boxer who has qualified to enter the ring at the Beijing Olympics.
Yet again, a national federation only decided at the last minute that it should prepare to send a team for an international meet. The Namibia results, where fly-weight Ronald Serugo defied the odds, showed that it is not fair to expect a Ugandan sportsman who has trained for two weeks, to compete and defeat an opponent who has trained for six months.
The overall qualification strategy by the boxing governing body UABF was also flawed. It focused on the costly World Championships in Chicago, US instead of the continental qualifiers in Namibia. Only two Africans were good enough to earn Olympic berths in Chicago.
The other sports disciplines eyeing the Olympics— athletics, swimming, badminton, weightlifting, cycling, archery— should learn from boxing’s failure. You can only reap Olympic glory by investing in early preparation and choosing your qualifying avenues cleverly.
Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola have led the way with fund-raising drives to help the national teams prepare for the Olympics.
National associations should put pressure on National Council of Sports and government to come up with similar fund-raising initiatives so that athletes can enter Olympic training camps soon.
IF all the fundraising effort and training for the Bombers had started three months earlier, one can safely say Uganda would be fielding more than the one boxer who has qualified to enter the ring at the Beijing Olympics.
Yet again, a national federation only decided at the last minute that it should prepare to send a team for an international meet. The Namibia results, where fly-weight Ronald Serugo defied the odds, showed that it is not fair to expect a Ugandan sportsman who has trained for two weeks, to compete and defeat an opponent who has trained for six months.
The overall qualification strategy by the boxing governing body UABF was also flawed. It focused on the costly World Championships in Chicago, US instead of the continental qualifiers in Namibia. Only two Africans were good enough to earn Olympic berths in Chicago.
The other sports disciplines eyeing the Olympics— athletics, swimming, badminton, weightlifting, cycling, archery— should learn from boxing’s failure. You can only reap Olympic glory by investing in early preparation and choosing your qualifying avenues cleverly.
Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola have led the way with fund-raising drives to help the national teams prepare for the Olympics.
National associations should put pressure on National Council of Sports and government to come up with similar fund-raising initiatives so that athletes can enter Olympic training camps soon.