State minister for Sports Charles Bakabulindi has promised to step into the long standing matter of contention between Uganda Boxing Federation (UBF) and a section of former boxers led by Godfrey Nyakaana.
Nyakaana was part of the many boxing patrons who seconded UBF president Moses Muhangi’s bid for presidency. Nyakaana also promised to guide and serve boxing under Muhangi’s leadership. Right now Muhangi is leading a faction that has been dragging Muhangi and UBF to court.
Most recently, Nyakaana and UBF faced off in the high court over UBF’s decision to alienate some clubs from the National Boxing Open. Muhangi won the case when court ruled in favour of UBF to continue with the preparations to have the Open go on.
While speaking at the official launch of the Open, Bakabulindi praised UBF under Muhangi’s leadership for their effort in rejuvenating boxing in Uganda.
Minister Bakabulindi also condemned the in-camp fighting and asked the boxing fraternity to focus all that efforts on preparing the national team for the All Africa Games that are scheduled to take place in Morocco later this year as well as the 2020 Olympics in Japan.
“The ministry is going to set up meetings with the Nyakaana faction and we shall try to get to the bottom of the matter about what made them run to courts. And I will not stop till we get to sort the issues out. I am happy they did not appeal the decision,” he said.
Over 250 boxers from 39 clubs turned up in different weight divisions for the Open which is scheduled to run for a week at Lugogo Arena. The best performing boxers will be selected as part of the boxing national team The Bombers.
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