By Barrie Alpha
President of the Sierra Leone Boxing Association (SLBA), Solomon Kargbo has made known that his association has won the bid for the country to host the Zone 2 tournament.
The SLBA president said the association defeated Nigeria and Mali during the bidding process to secure the hosting rights in March 2022.
Kargbo said the tournament will feature 15 African countries, noting that the tournament will contribute towards the attraction of foreign investors and will also create a huge increase in the country’s economy.
He furthered that the boxing association has held a series of meetings with the Ministry of Sports and other sectors for the country to host the tournament, especially for a conducive venue due to the rehabilitation work at the Siaka Stevens Stadium that will commence this February.
The president appealed to the Government through the Ministry of Sports and the National Sports Authority (NSA) for their much needed support as the Sierra Leone Boxing Association is among the sporting disciplines facing huge challenges to execute its programmes due to low funding. Key among them, he cited that they are yet to do payments for the Covid-19 tests done before they participated in the Boxing World Championship held in Serbia last year.
‘Our passports have been with NaCoVERC since October 2021 because we failed to pay for the Covid-19 test and we are desperately in need of the passport to register the team for the Commonwealth Games and the female Boxing World Championship this year.’