Boxing champs in West Sepik

PREPARATIONS for the national amateur boxing championships in Vanimo, West Sepik have gone to the next phase with the arrival of boxing personnel on the ground last week.
PNG Amateur Boxing Union (PNGABU) national tournament director Dick Larry and national coach Joe Aufa are currently in the border town working with the local organising committee to ensure logistics are in place before the teams arrive on Nov 31.
The five-day boxing tournament from Dec 1-5 coincides with the Sandaun Provincial Day.
Larry said since arriving last Thursday, he and Aufa had been working with the LOC in getting things moving.
He said the tournament was expected to attract more than 10 teams from around the country including the established centres and districts like NCD, Kairuku, Morobe, Buka, ENB, Manus, Wewak and Aitape.
Goroka will be the only representative from the highlands region.
Meanwhile, PNGBU general secretary John Avira has cautioned teams or associations not to use the championships to form new associations just for the sake of participating.
He was wary of many new associations which were springing up like mushrooms throughout the country, stating that they must conform to certain criteria before they can become an affiliated member of the national body.
Avira said PNGBU had given Abau Amateur Boxing Association (AABA) the green light to join but they still need to meet certain requirements before they can become a member of PNGBU.
He applauded the initiative taken by former PNG boxing champion, and the current women and the youth coach Ricky Berua for taking the lead – organising  the Abau boxers which should become one of the biggest boxing association in the country with 20 affiliated clubs in the Abau electorate.
Avira also thanked businessman Ian Gapi for kick-starting the fundraising.
Hopefully, AABA would make its debut during the Vanimo championships.
The championships was made possible through the sponsorship of the National Gaming Control Board with a support of K150,000.
Avira also thanked Deputy Prime Minister and patron of PNG Boxing Union Belden Namah for securing the sponsorship from the NGCB.