Fescaaba back

By James Bakama THE East, Southern and Central Africa Amateur Boxing Championship has been revived. The event, now called East, Southern and Central Africa Amateur Boxing Open Championship, was revived yesterday in Kampala by Tanzania and Uganda. David Agong, the secretary/ treasurer of the new competition, said it’s next venue and dates will be fixed at the Africa Boxing Confederation (ABC) congress in Burkina Faso in December. The competition’s organising committee is now the supreme organ unlike the previous arrangement that was hinged on a regional executive — the Federation of East, Southern African Amateur Boxing Association (FESCAABA). Chairmanship of the committee will be given to host nations. Other members of the committee to be in place for a two-year interim period are Charles Githuma (Kenya), Araya Asefa (Ethiopia), I. S. Kelly (Namibia), Charles Nkelle (Botswana) and Soon Pretorius (South Africa). Agong said the change is in line with a 1996 African Boxing Confederation (ABC) condition that demanded the regional body to either drop federation status or remain suspended. ABC said FESCAABA undermined it by being affiliated only to the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) at the time. “We have made constitutional changes that place us under ABC,” said Agong. He added that members are now required to pay competition and not affiliation fees as one way to avoid a clash of interest. Present were Shaban Mutanga (Tanzania), Issa Odongkara and Agong (Uganda). AIBA vice president Maj. Gen Francis Nyangweso attended on Thursday. Agong dismissed fears that other members of the former FESCAABA block would not respect the new competition. FESCAABA had Ethiopia, Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania, Lesotho, Swaziland, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Mauritius and Seychelles as members. Ends