Tanzania’s national team head coach Samwel Kapungu aka Batman would fly if he had wings.
In what will remain a memorable and historic night for Kapungu, he was named the 2024 Coach of the Year in the Tanzania National Sports Council Awards held on Sunday night, June 1, at the Super Dome in the affluent suburb of Masaki, Dar es Salaam.
As if that was not enough, Batman also won the National Team Award for the impressive performance of his team in the 2024 season, eclipsing football, the country’s most popular sport.
For the individual award, Batman KO’d national football team coach Hemed Suleiman who had been walking before the awards ceremony hoping to win the two awards.
Equally impressed was Boxing Federation of Tanzania (BFT) President Lukelo Willilo, proving once again boxing remains one of Tanzania’s most successful disciplines.
“We’re all very happy for winning the two awards and thank our President Samia Sukuhu for her big support,” said Willilo who is also the secretary general of the AFBC Zone Three.
Batman told boxersworld.co.ke he was overjoyed winning the two important awards.
“The two awards have really inspired me adding more value in my coaching profession, I’ll strive to do better,” said the Dar es Salaam- based businessman who hails from Iringa in Tanzania.
He started handling the national team in 2023, and within that short span boasts of five medals in the continental tournaments.
Batman’s notable achievement in the 2023 season was when he guided soldier Grace Mwakamele to become Tanzania’s first female medallist in the Africa Championships in Yaounde, Cameroon. She won light-middleweight silver with Lucas Changakawe winning light-heavyweight bronze.
He had earlier travelled to New Delhi, India, for the 2023 Women’s World Championships and later Men’s World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The 2024 season was a blast for Batman, winning three bronze medals at the African Games in Accra and another bronze by Najma Isike in the Africa Championships in Kinshasa, DR Congo. Medallists in Accra were lightweight Ezra Paul, light-heavyweight Yusuf Changalawe and cruiserweight Musa Malegesi.
Batman is not just a boxing coach. He knows the pain of a punch having been a boxer himself.
Inspired by one of Tanzania’s most popular boxers, Rashid “Snakeboy” Matumla, Batman got involved with boxing in the early 90s at Urafiki Boxing Club under coach Pius Simon and captain of the club David Lumbakisiye, and later switched to coaching. He’s now a Star-1 coach.
