Blind boxing date set for March 28

Feb 26, 2009

EAST Coast Boxing Club is set to stage the first ever blind amateur boxers contest between Uganda’s Bashir Ramathan and Tanzanian Simon Peter Omar at Lugogo on March 28.

By Swalley Kenyi

EAST Coast Boxing Club is set to stage the first ever blind amateur boxers contest between Uganda’s Bashir Ramathan and Tanzanian Simon Peter Omar at Lugogo on March 28.

The fight has been postponed from this weekend as the organisers are yet to secure their sh7m budget.

Ramathan, 38 is a passionate boxer in Naguru -a legendary boxing suburb in Kampala, who could not quit boxing even after he lost his sight 14 years ago.

East Coast Boxing Club secretary Hellen Erikodi said yesterday that they were preparing Ramathan to achieve his target of an international boxing contest.

“He is training hard but we had to reschedule the fight,” Erikodi said yesterday.

Ramathan spars with blind folded opponents to give him a feel of a contest. He is being coached by retired twin brother boxers Hussein and Hassan Khalil.

Blind boxing as a sport is the latest in Uganda after athletics, javelin, wrestling and cricket for the blind.
The contest is an amateur event but Uganda Amateur Boxing Federation officials could not comment on it. It is not clear whether they had sanctioned the event.

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