THREE TUNISIAN FEMALE BOXERS HAVE NO OFFICIAL OPPONENTS
▪️ Now organisers want them face boxers from a Guinean club
▪️ Tunisian national coach Montassar Ghanouni laments on shoddy organisation
Tunisian world junior bronze medallist Molka Khelifi and her two compatriots have no official opponents in the Africa Youth Boxing Championships which started on Tuesday, May 20, in Conakry, Guinea.
Molka, a quarter finalist in last year’s World Youth Championships in Montenegro, is entered in the lightweight division.Her other teammates without official opponents are flyweight Chama Khorchfi and welterweight Alaa Haddaji.
In a desperate bid to save face, the organisers are understood to have handpicked their opponents from a local club.
“They told me that they found them opponents from one club in Conakry without registration,” Tunisia’s national coach Montassar Ghanouni told boxersworld.co.ke
A furious Ghanouni has unleashed a two-fisted barrage on the Africa Boxing Confederation (AFBC) describing the tournament as a big embarrassment to Africa boxing.
“It’s really shameful and sad after preparing our boxers for this continental event, and having wasted so much money to buy tickets to Guinea, we find ourselves in the draw without opponents for our three female boxers,” said Ghanouni.
He went on: “We invested in these young boxers so that they can experience competitive boxing at this level before moving on to the senior category.
“But with this poor management of the current AFBC Board everything is lost. The future of African boxing is not at all clear under these circumstances and for that reason we no longer have hope on a world scale unless there’s a revolution and total overhaul on the way we manage boxing in Africa.”
If the three Tunisian boxers eventually face the three Guinean club boxers they will just be involved in friendly contests because the Guinean club boxers are not officially registered for the event and were not in the draws.
Tunisia is represented by five boys and four girls in the low-key nine-nation tournament.
“Our female minimumweight Lina Dhawadi is with two other boxers,” said Ghanouni.
Interestingly the organisers are so embarrassed on the clumsy manner they have handled the event that so far they have not released the drawsheet, list of the participating countries and the number of boxers per country yet this is vital information which should be shared to the participants and the media.
The AFBC ship is sinking as passengers scream for dear life. Soon some will start jumping out into the deep sea. Things are elephant.
