Lawmaker Canvasses Support For Grassroots Boxing Dev

A member of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Mr Ibrahim Bolomope, has pledged to organise a boxing competition in his Egbeda constituency of the state.

Bolomope told Tidesports in Ibadan that this was in fulfilment of his desire to promote other sports apart from football.

The lawmaker spoke during the final of a soccer competition he sponsored among teams from wards in Egbeda Local Government Area.

Bolomope said that his desire to sponsor boxing at the grassroots level was to rejuvenate Nigeria’ lost glory in the game which had earned the country international laurels.

“We have abundant boxing talents in my local government area. They are untapped and restless. So my plan is to harness them for positive development and expose them to international fora,’’ the law maker said.

He said that just like swimmers abound in the riverine areas of the country, “so also are boxers in large number in this area.”

Bolomope advised those aspiring to take to football as a means of livelihood to also endeavour to get sound education.

According to him, players with some level of education often played better than their illiterate colleagues, stressing that “education will only make any vocation gets better including football.’’

He called on football coaches to emphasise acquisition of formal education to their players, saying by doing this, it will register in their subconsciousness.

At the final of the football competition, ward seven defeated ward nine by 2-1, while ward 11 took the third place after beating ward six with the same score-line.