Algerians arrive for African Boxing tournament

The Algeria national boxing team arrived in Namibia on Wednesday in preparation for the second African boxing qualifying tournament for the Beijing Olympic Games.

Although there is still a week left before the start of the tournament on March 21, the Algerian team of three boxers and a coach has arrived to acclimatise and to be optimally prepared for the tournament. At a press conference at the Boxing Control Board yesterday, their coach Soudani Nasser expressed his appreciation for the warm welcome from their Namibian counterparts.”We are very happy to be in Namibia and I’m happy that Namibia will host this tournament because we know that Namibia is good at organising these kind of competitions,” he said.”It is our first time here in Namibia, but we don’t feel like strangers, and in fact we feel like we are in our own country.As soon as I stepped on Namibian soil I had that special feeling about this country, because of our strong political ties,” he said.happy to be here He said his boxers were also happy to be in Namibia, although they did not know much about the country.”It’s a shame, but the youth of Algeria don’t know anything about Namibia.Some of the boxers even asked if Namibia was in Africa, but they are very happy to discover your beautiful country,” he said.Nasser said all three their boxers were determined to win and qualify for the Olympics.”We are here to win.We have seen most of the African boxers at previous tournaments and we are confident that we will win,” he said.Algeria is probably the strongest boxing country in Africa at the moment.They were the overall winners of the 2007 All Africa Games in Algeria, while a total of eight of their boxers qualified for the Olympics at the first African qualifiers in Algeria in January.Their three boxers who will compete in Namibia are Hamoud Boubraouat in the 48kg division, Abderahim Mechenouai in the 51kg division and Mohamed Beldjord in the 64kg division.Mechenouai won the gold medal at the All Africa Games, but was beaten by a Moroccan boxer in the 51kg final at the African qualifiers in Algeria.Boubraouat won a bronze medal at the All Africa Games and was the losing finalist in the 48kg category in Algeria.Beldjord did not fight in Algeria due to injury.’Doing it for Africa’ The director of sport in the Ministry of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture, Dr Vetumbuavi Veii said the Namibian government had contributed N$1 million in cash towards the tournament, because they believed it was important to host it for the whole SADC region.”We are also providing transport and our overall contribution will amount to about N$1,5 million.It is a lot of money, but we decided to give our commitment because we are not just doing it for Namibia, but for the SADC region as well as the whole of Africa,” he said.Dr Veii called thanked Telecom Namibia for their financial support and Air Namibia and the local hotels which will provide discounts for the boxers and delegates who will arrive in Namibia.He however said they needed more money to host the event and called on the private sector to come forward with contributions.The event is expected to host close to 45 countries while an estimated 200 boxers will be in action.The tournament will take place at the University of Namibia’s Gymnasium Hall.www.namibiasport.com.naAt a press conference at the Boxing Control Board yesterday, their coach Soudani Nasser expressed his appreciation for the warm welcome from their Namibian counterparts.”We are very happy to be in Namibia and I’m happy that Namibia will host this tournament because we know that Namibia is good at organising these kind of competitions,” he said.”It is our first time here in Namibia, but we don’t feel like strangers, and in fact we feel like we are in our own country.As soon as I stepped on Namibian soil I had that special feeling about this country, because of our strong political ties,” he said.happy to be here He said his boxers were also happy to be in Namibia, although they did not know much about the country.”It’s a shame, but the youth of Algeria don’t know anything about Namibia.Some of the boxers even asked if Namibia was in Africa, but they are very happy to discover your beautiful country,” he said.Nasser said all three their boxers were determined to win and qualify for the Olympics.”We are here to win.We have seen most of the African boxers at previous tournaments and we are confident that we will win,” he said.Algeria is probably the strongest boxing country in Africa at the moment.They were the overall winners of the 2007 All Africa Games in Algeria, while a total of eight of their boxers qualified for the Olympics at the first African qualifiers in Algeria in January.Their three boxers who will compete in Namibia are Hamoud Boubraouat in the 48kg division, Abderahim Mechenouai in the 51kg division and Mohamed Beldjord in the 64kg division.Mechenouai won the gold medal at the All Africa Games, but was beaten by a Moroccan boxer in the 51kg final at the African qualifiers in Algeria.Boubraouat won a bronze medal at the All Africa Games and was the losing finalist in the 48kg category in Algeria.Beldjord did not fight in Algeria due to injury.’Doing it for Africa’ The director of sport in the Ministry of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture, Dr Vetumbuavi Veii said the Namibian government had contributed N$1 million in cash towards the tournament, because they believed it was important to host it for the whole SADC region.”We are also providing transport and our overall contribution will amount to about N$1,5 million.It is a lot of money, but we decided to give our commitment because we are not just doing it for Namibia, but for the SADC region as well as the whole of Africa,” he said.Dr Veii called thanked Telecom Namibia for their financial support and Air Namibia and the local hotels which will provide discounts for the boxers and delegates who will arrive in Namibia.He however said they needed more money to host the event and called on the private sector to come forward with contributions.The event is expected to host close to 45 countries while an estimated 200 boxers will be in action.The tournament will take place at the University of Namibia’s Gymnasium Hall.www.namibiasport.com.na