No Bombers for Commonwealth games?

With barely six months to the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, it is becoming obvious that the nation’s amateur boxing team, the Black Bombers, might miss the games.

At the moment, the Bombers cannot boast of a standing team to represent the country at the world’s third most important competition after the Olympics and the World Championship Games.

According to the Graphic Sports, it’s investigations has revealed that the only boxers on the Bombers list are the Amidu Yakubu brothers.

The two boxers (Amidu Yakubu Snr. and Amidu Jnr.) whose ties of brotherhood have drawn them to the boxing circles are currently in the featherweight and bantamweight divisions respectively.

Interestingly, the major problem believed to be facing amateur boxing is lack of funds to organise a national competition to select boxers for the team.

It is evident that since the arrival of the Black Bombers from the Sydney Olympics, the team has virtually collapsed due to the exit of the boxers into professional boxing. The preparation of the team is currently at a standstill with no competition or activity

taking place.

Graphic Sports investigations to ascertain the level of preparations being undertaken to revamp the team for the Commonwealth Games show that the newlyformed Ghana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) is yet to execute competent boxers to join the Bombers.

According to sources close to the GABA, all the regional associations were mandated to organise individual competitions but their efforts proved futile due to lack of funds.

Another problem that has impeded the early reconstitution of the Black Bombers, according to the source, is the late reconstitution of the association.

The source intimated that most of the members of the newly constituted association are new and need some time to study the system, adding that the former members also relaxed because they had prior knowledge that they were going to be changed.

The source emphasised that as a result of lack of official and private sponsorship due to the perception that boxing’s popularity has gone down, the nation’s contingent might go to the Commonwealth Games without the Black Bombers.

Meanwhile, the new members of the GABA are set to meet next Tuesday to draw a programme that is expected to salvage the Bombers from collapse.