The President of the Ghana Amateur Boxing Federation (GABF), George Lamptey, has called on the government to come to the aid of the amateur boxers in the country amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Two Ghanaian boxers have qualified for next year’s Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo whilst others are also preparing to secure an Olympic slot in the upcoming qualifiers which will be held before the Olympic Games.
According to George Lamptey, the coronavirus pandemic has brought about a lot of hardship on boxers in the country which may affect their preparations ahead of Olympic qualifying tournaments and the main event if the government does not come to their aid.
Speaking on the effects of COVID-19 on the least financed sports in the country on Happy Sports on Happy 98.9FM with Ohene-Bampoe Brenya he said, “Government should come to the aid of the amateur boxers in the country. At the moment, managers, promoters are all suffering due to the pandemic. The boxers are training on their own but its worrying to know that they are unable to eat a balanced diet after training.
“If not for anything government should come to the aid of the two amateur boxers who have qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games which will be held next year”.
Sulemanu Tetteh and Samuel Tetteh are the two Ghanaian amateur boxers to have secured their Olympic ticket during the African Qualifiers in March held in Senegal this year.
George Lamptey added that he is hopeful that Ghana will get more amateur boxers to represent the country at the Olympics Games next year.
“We will be sending three boxers to France to compete in the Olympic qualifiers and we hope they will secure a ticket to the Games”.
