Young Ethiopians embrace boxing
Boxing is witnessing growing popularity in africa’s second populous nation, especially among women and the country’s burgeoning youth population.
BETHLEHEM Gezahagn, 22, is anxiously, yet confidently, waiting for her boxing match on Sunday at a national championship, which will decide her life-long dream of representing her country in the international arena.
Ahead of the 51kg category match, the aspiring young boxer from Ethiopia is warming up with fast-moving footwork while checking on her protective gloves and hand wraps.
“I have never been this nervous. It is not because of the fighting, but I am not used to competing in front of a big crowd of people,” Gezahagn said.
For the past nine years, Gezahagn has been practicing boxing as a fulltime professional athlete representing the Addis Ababa Police Commission Boxing Club, one of the elite boxing teams in the East African country.
Growing popularity
Over the years, few Ethiopians have enjoyed notable success in boxing. Many, however, associate their success largely with personal achievements and triumph rather than national success.
One of such personalities is Ayele Mohamed Yimam, who represented Ethiopia across three Olympics about 40-50 years ago.
The veteran athlete, who boasts a huge respect among the boxing community in Ethiopia for his personal achievements over the years, underscored the need to exert concerted efforts among public and private stakeholders so as to meaningfully develop the sport.
“If we indeed want to uplift our country’s representation in international boxing events, we should give adequate attention to coaches and start from the grassroots level.
“We should establish dedicated institutions and platforms to nurture young talents and to guide them to success,” Yimam said.
Given the absence of the desired level of recognition and support, however, many argue that boxing is in recent years witnessing growing popularity in Africa’s second populous nation, especially among the country’s burgeoning youth population.
The positive phenomenon is injecting a much-needed momentum in the growth of boxing, eventually serving as a newly-found promise towards transforming the sport into a national success in the near future.
Desalegn Sisay, 21, is one of Ethiopia’s boxing prodigies, who aspires to represent his country in the Olympic games one day; and hopefully elevate Ethiopia’s name among the top.
He said a growing number of young Ethiopians are lately flocking to boxing as their preferred sporting activity mainly owing to the sport’s huge media coverage in the international stage, which attracts the attention of sportloving youth in the country.
“If we really intend to further promote boxing in Ethiopia, we, as a country, should give much emphasis to it – be it through the development of dedicated facilities across the nation, through augmented media coverage as well as by holding boxing competitions more often,” Sisay said.
Daunting Challenges
In Ethiopia, boxing is claimed to have been taught as a type of military training to soldiers in the army since the 1950s.
Boxing, as a sporting event, however, is still struggling for the desired level of recognition and popularity, in which the sport’s reputation and legacy is largely intertwined with the role and dedication of few standout personalities who had over the years endeavored to the development of the game out of their love for the sport.
Gezahagn underscored that the lack of adequate boxing competitions coupled with the existing littleto-none support bestowed to the sport are the major daunting challenges that led boxing at its infancy in Ethiopia.
“There are people in our country who do not know whether boxing does really exist as a sporting competition,” Gezahagn said.
She argued that often family and friends advise her to switch boxing into other “beneficial sports,” mainly referring to long-distance running and more recently football, as they alluded to the popularity and financial merits of such sports.
“I do understand their point and concern because even though boxing is a highly paid and hugely popular sporting competition in developed countries, here, it is still perceived as a hobby that people practice to fulfill their personal ambitions,” she said.
Ethiopian Boxing Federation
President Eyassu Wossen said his federation is working hard to transform boxing into one of the most-preferred sporting activities in Ethiopia.
“As you know, the federation did not even have a dedicated website or even a logo until recently.
“We are now transforming the federation in such a way that would spearhead the growth of the sport.
“With government’s leading role and the private sector’s active participation, boxing will surely bring Ethiopia’s name in the international stage equally with the athletics sector,” Wossen said.
Call for inclusivity
In addition to the widespread calls for concerted efforts to the growth of the sport at the national level, some are also calling for the need to ensure equal representation in the sport.
Gezahagn, who is one of the very few female professional boxers in Ethiopia, voiced the common concern among fellow female athletes with regard to ensuring inclusivity in boxing, emphasising that women are less-represented in the sport.
She said even though boxing in general is still less-popular in Ethiopia and much needs to be done to develop the sport, the few available opportunities are often not accessible for women as compared to their male counterparts.
“From the very few institutions and organisations who have dedicated boxing teams in our country, only few have so far assembled women’s team. This, by itself, tells you how we are under-represented in the sport,” Gezahagn said. – Xinhua