Boxers get 3.7m/- boost

The Tanzania Boxing Federation (BFT) yesterday received a 3.7m/-and five return air tickets support from two local firms to enable the body ferry its team to Namibia for a championship which starts on Saturday.

The boxers will use the Namibia`s African Zone bout to look for the Olympic Games qualifying marks.

Serengeti Breweries Limited donated 3.7m/- while Air Tanzania Corporation Limited and Tanzania Olympic Committee donated two tickets each to the team.

The cheque and tickets were presented to the Deputy Minister for Information, Culture and Sports, Joel Bendera, in a short ceremony in Dar es Salaam yesterday
“We hope that these boosts will help you. Tanzanians hope that you will qualify for the games,“ the minister said.

Bendera urged the boxers to fight hard so they qualify because Tanzania had not sent boxing team in the Olympics for the last 12 years.

“I would be very pleased to see two or three boxers qualifying for the games,“ Bendera said.

Six boxers are expected to leave for the games on Saturday. They are Hassan Fikiri (light fly weight), Emmilian Patrick (bantam), Petro Mtagwa (light), Hashim Simon (light), Joseph Martin (welter) and Leonard Machichi (middle).

Three boxers in the team failed in the Africa Zone Olympic Games qualifiers in Algeria in February. They are Simon, Machichi and Patrick.

The Games will be held in Beijing, China in August.
Tanzania is planning to send two disciplines in China boxing and athletics.

Six athletes have so far qualified for the games. Dickson Marwa, Samson Ramadhani, Msenduku Mohamed and Getuli Bayo are some of them.