She Bombers will take no prisoners at world women championships
Coach Katende talks to Turyanabo after a training session at Lugogo Fitness Centre recently. PHOTO BY AMINAH BABIRYE
What you need to know:
Boxing. The 2014 Women’s AIBA World Boxing Championships was initially scheduled to be held in Edmonton, Canada from September to October 2014 but will now be held at the Halla Gymnasium of Jeju City, South Korea between 13 and 25 November 2014.
KAMPALA. It is many an athlete’s wont to promise victory prior the showdown and the female Bombers preparing for the AIBA World Women Boxing Championships due November 13 to 25 in Jeju, South Korea are no exceptions to this norm.
Helen Baleke, Diana Atwiine, Mourine Adhiambo and Diana Turyanabo, view this as once-in-a-lifetime opportunity which they ought to seize with open hands.
This is their first major international outing yet all of them have had burning desire to become world champions.
“Such opportunities, especially for us female boxers, are rare so, we must pull all the strings to impress,” team captain Baleke told Daily Monitor yesterday, before her younger sister Turyanabo quickly added, “We must make a loud statement to the world that we are not jokers, we are champions.”
UPDF’s Atwiine is also eager to impress in her lightweight category, what with all the dedication since she joined the sport.
“I have always prayed for such an opening. I have boxing my all since I joined and I want to use it like it is the last one.”
The ladies have, since October, been in non-residential training at Lugogo Indoor Stadium under the watch of coaches Charles Lubulwa and Innocent Kapalata. But are they good enough for a podium finish?
“Definitely, they cannot comeback empty-handed,” head coach Dick Katende strongly believes. “We have done a lot to put them back into shape; they are stronger, quicker and hungry for success.”
In Irene Ssemakula and Mariam Nalukwago (RIP) Uganda won two Gold medals in the inaugural Africa Women Championships in 2001, but that good beginning, ironically spelt oblivion for female boxing.
