Boxing meet put off

THE 2010 National Boxing championships in sleepy border town of Vanimo, Sandaun province, has been postponed to June.
The championships, initially set for April 1-5, was deferred to June following close consultation with Vanimo-Green MP and Forest Minister Belden Namah and the PNG Boxing Union officials last Thursday.
Namah, who is the patron of the PNGABU-sanctioned tournaments, said he needed time to organise the local organising committee (LOC) while the PNGBU got itself organised to conduct fundraising and also negotiate the purchase of new boxing rings for shipment to Vanimo. 
PNGBU tournament director Dick Larry said he was satisfied with Namah’s request for sufficient time to get the house in order to meet the requirements in staging the championships.
Larry said Namah was cautious about staging boxing in Vanimo with venues and other logistics to meet the required AIBA standard to host such boxing tournaments.
“All he is asking for is he wants the championships to be deferred to June,” Larry added.
The minister is expected to purchase two rings for the boxers to prepare for the upcoming event.
“The Easter weekend is too short a time to prepare and I want to ask PNGBU to defer the tournament to June,” he said.
Namah said he wanted the event to be held during the school holidays to allow school children and the community in Vanimo to participate in the event.
Larry said several centres had shown interest in travelling to Vanimo for the tournament.
“Many centres have enquired as to when the tournament will be held but I had to tell them to wait for the patron to make a formal announcement,” he said.
Larry said he told a lot of centres to continue training and wait for the announcement.
Ricky Berua of Koki Boxing Club will be leading Wanigela boxers to Vanimo for the event.