RABA not aware of Youth Championships
As Rwanda sports federations don’t seize to amuse, here is another one.

The local boxing body, Rwanda Amateur Boxing Association (RABA) isn’t aware that the inaugural AIBA Youth World Championships is set for October 25-November 1 in Guadalajara, Mexico. 

In an interview with Times Sport, RABA Technical Director Gashugi Kananura revealed that the local body was not aware of the scheduled world youth competition thus putting the blame on the national Olympics committee for not informing them of the pending  championship.

"We were not informed of this competition and I think this information might have been passed during the Beijing Olympic Games,” Gashugi said.

It is however, disappointing to find a whole national association not knowing the activities of its world governing body yet every decision reached upon by AIBA is communicated to its respective member associations.

Deadline for registration to championship closed late last month and the dormant RABA was not aware of the championship.

A total of 359 boxers from 68 countries have registered to compete in the inaugural AIBA Youth World Championships.

The AIBA Youth World Championships, which features bouts of four rounds of two minutes across 11 weight categories as per the senior class, will involve boxers aged 17 and 18 who will compete over five days of preliminaries before the semifinals and finals take place on October 31 and November 1.

All boxers are expected to undergo the customary medical check and weigh in on the eve of the tournament in order to determine the exact number of boxers who are eligible to compete.

Regional countries which registered to compete include; Uganda and Ethiopia.

The AIBA World Youth Championships replaces the Junior World Championships which started in 1979 and was last held (the 14th edition) in Agadir, Morocco in 2006.

Rwanda yet to abide by AIBA rules
In a related development, RABA will take long to abide by the rules set up by the world governing boxing body, AIBA.

AIBA has ordered all national federations to start boxing leagues in their respective countries but the national body Raba will take along time to adjust to this new rule due to lack of participating clubs.

Gashugi said Wednesday that the international rule of starting boxing leagues will not be possible in Rwanda due to the fact the country has a low number of clubs which can run a national league.

"Starting a national league can’t be possible because of lack of clubs in our country. We are not like Uganda and Kenya where they have many clubs with plenty of boxers.

"Uganda and Kenya has managed to excel because they have many boxing clubs which will enable their leagues to run successfully,” Gashugi said.

Gashugi also added that financial constraint which has hit the boxing federation for ages can’t enable the local body to run a successful league campaign.

Gashugi, who is also the national team head coach added, "We will only host the national championship as it used to be but the national league will never be possible with many issues yet to be solved.”

Currently, Rwanda has only seven boxing clubs with five or more boxers available in each club. The clubs include; Remera, Kimisagara, Rafiiki, Pan Africa, Inkuba, Masaka and Rubavu.

"The available boxing clubs don’t even have enough boxers in all categories to enable a booming league,” Gashugi noted. 

Meanwhile, a new groundbreaking tournament designed to reshape the world of international boxing has been passed and the Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) is requesting all federations to adopt it before the Olympics in London 2012.

The proposal was unveiled to the international sporting community during the Olympics in Beijing, China and which the world governing body has now approved.

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