Accra, Aug 30, GNA - Dade Boxing Club of La, formed with the aim of helping the youth of the community to develop their sporting talents and make good use of their leisure hours was on Saturday inaugurated in Accra.
The club, a brainchild of some members of the La community came about as from their desire to help rid the streets of unemployed youth through introducing them to sporting activities.
The occasion was also used to commission a 70 million cedi boxing gym equipped with locally manufactured boxing apparatus like gloves, punching bags, head guards, speed balls and a standard boxing ring. The club currently has six amateur boxers and three professional boxers and has employed the services of Mr Ato Fynn, a top ranking boxing coach, a masseur and a nurse.
Commissioning the club, which is the 26th boxing club in Accra, Honourable Ebenezer Ako Nai, Member of the Parliament for the area urged all to help support the club to bring glory to the people of La. He said he had formed the Dadekotopon Sports Council to see to the proper administration of some sporting activities like soccer, table tennis and playing cards in the constituency.
Mr Ako Nai urged the club's executives not to allow themselves to be bullied by the more established boxing clubs since the community has everything that it takes to survive any form of intimidation from every quarter.
He praised the efforts of the founders since it supported the call by government for private sector participation in sports. The ceremony also saw the swearing into office of a six-member executive committee with Mr Gideon Quartey, as Chairman to run the affairs of the club.
Other members of the executive are Mr Joseph Neequaye Vice-Chairman, Charles Okerchiri Secretary, Emmanuel Odoi, Public Relations Officer, John Sowah, Organiser and Frank Lamptey, member. In an interview with GNA Sports Mr Joseph Neequaye, Vice Chairman was grateful to Mr Darko, owner of the land on which the gym has been built for readily putting his property at their disposal.
He said Dade Boxing Club has also registered as a professional boxing promotion syndicate and would come out with its first boxing promotion by February next year.
Mr Neequaye appealed to companies and institutions to come to the aid of the Club by donating equipments for expansion of the gym to meet the expected increase in the number of members. He said judging from the rate of development of boxers in the fold it would not be long for the club to produce national and world-beaters.
There were messages of solidarity from the Ghana Amateur Boxing Association and the Ghana Boxing Authority.
There were four exhibition bouts as part of activities marking the commissioning.
