Ex-boxing Scribe Laments Nigeria’s Poor Outing In India

Nigeria’s poor outing in boxing at the ongoing 29th Commonwealth Games in New Delhi is due to poor preparation by the Nigeria Boxing Federation (NBF), a sports administrator said.

In an interview with Tidesports source in Lagos, Trigo Egbegi, a former Secretary of the Nigeria Boxing Board of Control (NBB of C), said the NBF board appeared ignorant about how to develop amateur boxing.

Egbegi noted that the failure of any of the five boxers in the competition to advance to the crucial stages of the tournament in New Delhi confirmed the poor state of the sport in Nigeria.

He said the poor performance of the boxing team reflected the acrimony in the federation, which led to the dropping of the federation’s head coach, Obisia Nwakpa.

Nwakpa was neither involved in the boxers’ preparation nor accompanied the team to the games.

“Our preparation for the games was zero, the boxers we took to the games did not have the requisite experience for a competition of the magnitude of the Commonwealth Games,” Egbegi said.

“There was no activity lined up locally or internationally to fine-tune the boxers; if such had been done, the boxers would have gained the necessary experience and exposure,” he said.

Egbegi said if the boxers had taken part in international competitions prior to the games, they would have tested their abilities against foreign opponents.

He expressed concern over the decline of the sport in the country, noting that Nigeria recorded its best outing in boxing at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

It would be recalled that Nigeria’s Richard Igbinegbu and David Izonritei won silver medals in the heavyweight and super heavyweight categories respectively at the Barcelona Games.

Duncan Dokiwari won Nigeria’s last Olympics medal at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, where he clinched a bronze medal in the super heavyweight category.

“I wonder what the people at the NBF are doing about the declining state of boxing.

“It is either a case of lack of provision for training tours or somebody is sitting on funds meant for such purpose,” Egbegi added.