By John Nene
Somalia is among the 31 countries which have so far confirmed participation in the Africa Boxing Confederation Men and Women’s Championships scheduled for Maputo from September 9-18.
This will be Somalia’s first appearance in the AFBC tournament now in its 20th edition.
Somalia Boxing Federation (SBF) has not stated whether their star boxer Ramla Ali (pictured) will be among the boxers in Maputo.
Ramla, who played a big role in the formation of Somalia’s federation, last Saturday KO’d Dominican’s Crystal Garcia Nova in the first round of the undercard of Anthony Joshua v Oleksandr Usyk heavyweight title fight in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Boxing is fast gaining popularity in Somalia. In 2018, Mogadishu hosted the first boxing match in 40 years in Somalia.
The 31 countries which have confirmed participation are Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Somalia, Bénin, Mali, Senegal, lvory Coast, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Congo, DRC, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Mozambique, Lesotho, South Africa, Mauritius, Seychelles, Eswatini, Ethiopia.
