By Yemi Sodeeq, Sportspro News
Kwara State Amateur Boxing Association under the leadership of Barrister Ahmed Musa Rufai is poised to change the concept of the ring based sports from passion to profession while identifying talents that will haul laurels in National and International competitions.
Speaking during the Kwara Mega Boxing Bouts 2021 tagged “Another A for AA” which held on January 1st 2021 at the Indoor Sports Hall of Kwara State Stadium, the Chairman of Boxing Association, Ahmed said the only way to remove crime tendencies from young ones is to engage them in sporting activities.
The one day event provided Boxing prodigies from Oyo, Osun and the host State opportunities to sharpen their skills towards conquering the stage at the upcoming Edo National Sports festival slated for February 14th to 28th, 2021.
Exhibition duels between Kali Okanlawon and Yusuf Suleiman with another one involving Okanlawon Lateef of Kwara State and Oluwa Damilare of Oyo State heralded bouts of different categories to complement the euphoria of the new year day.
In all the 10 major encounters, punches dragged boxers round the ring with artistry telling a lot of the potentials the sports can boast of in the country.
In the 43kg main bout, Musa Taofeeq of Kwara defeated Adeniran Fawas from Oyo State to secure the first gold for the host State with the 52kg category clash between Ahmed Suleiman of Kwara and Sodiq Abdulrahman (Oyo State) again also producing another gold for the Harmony State.
Liadi Azeez (Kwara) in the 56kg conquered Semiu Olamoyero Adetunji (Osun) while Abdulganiy Yinus also outsmarted his Kwara fellow, Kaleeb Israel in the 60kg category of the fight.
Saheed Jamiu added to the gold medals of Kwara after out-punching Rasheed Ahmed of Oyo State in the 64kg.
In another set of 64kg, Olanrewaju Suleiman of Kwara fell to Oladiti Abdullahi of Oyo as the duel between Jimoh Ismaila (Kwara) and Rufai Ibrahim Dare (Osun) handed the former a gold medal in the 69kg placed combat.
The 75kg class was another battle of Kwarans that produced Shuaib Yakub Omotosho as the winner against Ogundokun Sodiq while the highest placed battle of the day- 81kg between Abdullahi Ibrahim of Kwara and Hammed Adekunle from Oyo State ended in favour of the Kwara boxer.
The only female bouts had Tijani Fausiyat of Kwara State and Lateef Sofiat from Lagos State sharing the ring- the latter eventually emerged winner after the blockbuster.
In total,Kwara State led the packs by hauling 8 Gold and 4 Silver medals. Oyo State secured 1 Gold and 4 Silver medals while Lagos State and Osun State went home with 1 Gold and 2 Silver medals respectively.
Guests at the event includes Director of Kwara Sports Council, Alarape Atanda, Kwara SWAN Chairman Jimoh Bashir, Sportspro News Publisher, Bayour Issah, Alhaji Usman Yahaya , Chairman Kwara State Swimming Association, Mr Sola Owolabi, Chairman Kwara State Table Tennis Association, President, Nigeria Squash Racket Referees Association,Coach Bola Magaji,
Barrister Suleiman Daud and host of others.
