Coach Blames NSC For Boxing Woes

The Enugu State box
ing coach, Blaise Ude, on Wednesday attributed the falling standard of boxing in the country to lack of commitment by the National
Sports Commission (NSC) toward the development of the sport.
Ude told the newsmen in Enugu that the decline in standards were regrettabl, noting that the country still had the capacity to turn things around.
“Boxing in Nigeria is deteriorating because of a lack of National championships and other levels of competitions.
“In the past two years, the country has not been able to stage a single championship. When I was an active boxer, we used to have two to three championships in the country but these days we hardly witness any.
“For sport to grow, we need to have competitions all the year round. This is because boxers need to be exposed to modem facilities and strategies in the game,” he said.
He said that the country had not been able to measure up to some other countries because there had not been specific criteria for selecting those that would represent the country at the 2016 Olympics.
“We saw what happened this year where athletes were selected for the African Games (AG) without the National Sports Festival (NSF) being staged ahead,” he said.
He urged the NSC to involve individuals and corporate bodies in staging regular competitions in  the country, instead of leaving sportsmen and women to rot after intensive trainings.
Ude also urged NSC to introduce leagues in boxing at Zonal levels to provide opportunities for boxers to compete.