The 9-man national boxing team, the Bombers, returned home Tuesday morning with three of the boxers wearing medals around their necks.
The three, Muzamir Kakande, Geoffrey Kakeeto and David Ayiti booked their places to the Aiba World Boxing Championships after their heroics at the Africa Boxing Championships (AFBC) in Congo-Brazaville. The World Championships are slated for August 25 to September 3 in Hamburg, Germany. Welterweight Muzamir Kakande won gold while bantamweight Geoffrey Kakeeto and David Ayiti (super heavy weight) each brought home silver. For their exploits, the trio received a token of appreciation from tycoon Sam Bushanani, of Bushanani investment. Kakande received 2 million because of winning Uganda’s only gold medal while his two other counterparts took home 1 million each.
Uganda Boxing Federation (UBF) publicist Fred Kavuma revealed that the team performed well despite the far-from perfect preparations. Only Betway came to the team’s rescue with food items but the team struggled raising the necessary logistics in the build up to the event. Kakande and Kakeeto impressed in categories that are highly-competitive. Ayiti was a surprise package in the heavyweight division, a category in which the country has rarely featured. The other two boxers, Reagan Ssimbwa (light heavyweight) and Shafik Kiwanuka (heavyweight) came short in the heavyweight. Ayiti replicated what his predecessor Mike Ssekabembe did in Morocco in 2015 when he won one of Uganda’s medals at the Games.
Uganda won five bronze medals through Ssekabembe (super heavyweight), Rogers Semitala (bantamweight), Fazil Juma (flyweight), Hassan Abdul (Light-weight) and Willy Kyakonye (heavyweight). With the World Championships around the corner, Betway will continue to stand with the team in preparation for the global event.