Mali’s renowned boxer, Marine Fatoumata Camara cites scarcity of funds as one of the major stumbling blocks facing the development of boxing in Africa
She’s of the opinion African boxers would have done much better in Bangkok, Thailand during the Olympic qualifiers with adequate preparations.
Lack of proper funding, Camara says, has denied the African boxers training opportunities and constant participation in several overseas international tournaments to gauge themselves against some of the world’s best boxers to enable them learn new tricks of the trade.
She also feels lack of appreciation and motivation in most African countries demoralise the achievers with some top boxers finally losing interest in the sport.
Citing her example, Camara while accepting she lost fairly to India’s Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, southpaw Jasmine Lamboria, she says had she undergone proper preparations for a tournament of this magnitude she would have done much better.
She lost by a unanimous decision to the Indian boxer in the featherweight quarter-finals during the 2nd World Olympic Qualifiers which ended in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sunday, June 2.
“Due to lack of enough funds, I only fight and train in Portugal. So it’s with very limited preparation that I made this achievement in Bangkok,” she says.
“I believe that with financial support allowing me to train at international training camps with different type of boxers things may have been different.
“For instance, I have no women southpaw boxers in my gym, I’m the only southpaw. I need more international level training but with no money it’s complicated.
I have met a few southpaws before but in Bangkok, it was my first time to fight a southpaw of this size, lf I had prepared with different type of opponents and southpaws of her size I would not have had problems with the Indian boxer, It was difficult scoring against her. This is one important factor ignored in our continent.”
Camara currently trains at Privilegio Boxing Club in Lisbon under popular coach Bruno Carvalho. She’s with Cape Verde’s Paris-bound David Pina who introduced her to the gym when they met in Maputo in 2022 during the Africa Elite Championships. Her parents are based in Paris where she was born and brought up.
She’s full of praise for coach Bruno Carvalho on how he has transformed her boxing at Privilegio Club in Lisbon.
“The best ever coach to handle me, he brought me back to the top like he did to David Pina, we owe him a lot,” says Camara, adding: “A real leader who knows how to get the best out of his boxers, he believes in us more than we believe in ourselves, and who gives us everything without expecting anything.
“He put me back mentally together with my teammates and helped me discover the boxing approach that suits me.”
Credit: AFBC Communications
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