Telecom Namibia announced a sponsorship of N$250 000 for boxing on Monday, ahead of the National Amateur Boxing Championships which are scheduled to take place at the A Shipena School Hall from Thursday to Saturday. Under the terms of the agreement, Telecom Namibia will be the exclusive sponsor of the Namibia Boxing Federation until July 2010, with an option to renew the contract for a further two-year period.
The acting managing director of Telecom Namibia, Wessel van de Vyver said they supported boxing because they believed that Namibians could excel in this code.
“Boxing is one of the most iconic Olympic sports and it is very important to us as a company that we continually help in developing this code. Through better equipment and enhanced marketing efforts, we believe Telecom Namibia can play a vital role in supporting Namibia amateur boxing’s prominence in the regional, continental and international levels,” he said.
“Telecom Namibia prioritizes boxing, among the different sporting codes and other social causes, because we firmly believe that the country could produce world class winners from the amateur to the professional level,” he added.
The secretary general of the Namibian Boxing Federation Joe Kaperu thanked Telecom Namibia, saying their partnership already started in 2006.
“Telecom Namibia already started sponsoring boxing in 2006 an assisted us in staging tournaments and help putting administration structures in place. For the past three years Telecom has also been a proud sponsor of the National Amateur Boxing Championships for the past three years,” he added.
Kaperu said that the National Championships alone will cost about N$285 000 to stage, although the Ministry of Sport would also contribute to the staging of the event. He added that if funds permitted, Namibia was keen to participate in an international event in Hungary in January as well as the African Zone 6 Championships in February.
The Director of Sport Dr Vetumbuavi Veii thanked Telecom Namibia for the sponsorship saying that government funds were not sufficient to support sport in Namibia.
“Sport will always play second fiddle to other priority areas like housing and education and therefore Telecom Namibia’s gesture is highly appreciated,” he said.
More than 100 boxers from all 13 regions in Namibia as well as the Namibia Defence Force and the Namibian Police will participate in the championships. The first round bouts are scheduled to start on Thursday, the semifinals on Friday and the finals on Saturday.