Boxing: Twelve Certified As AIBA Star One Referees and Judges, UBF Grow ‘Wings’
Uganda Boxing Federation President, Moses Muhangi awarded certificates to at least twelve referees and Judges who passed the AIBA Star One level task.
The awarding ceremony took part at the office of the federation at Lugogo on Wednesday, 17, March 2021.
Among the 18 local referees and judges who took part in the workshop that was held in August 2019 at Kati Kati Restaurant- Lugogo Kampala, only twelve qualified and the six failed the tasks set by the AIBA international Referees and Judges instructors who came from Hungary and Tunisia. That is Zoltan Szalma and Muhammad Braham.
After awarding them with certificates, Moses Muhangi said that, it’s a milestone for the sport especially from technical side because they have been lacking in that area and the few they had have been holding them at Ransom which not good for the development of the sport in the country.
“When we came in office, we found only 14 R&Js who had the AIBA Star One certificate, the number which was too small and could not allow the federation development in that area, and the few we had, used to hold us at ransom that if you don’t give us such amount we shall not work, and they were compromised by the athletes which wasn’t good….” Muhangi told this website before adding. “..As an executive, we saw that challenge and we decided to organize an international workshop where we had 18 local referees and 12 qualified, bringing the number from 14 to 26.
“This will help us to develop the competitiveness and efficiency. This means all our referees will be competitive.
The federation can only grow when you have a strong technical team, that is coaches, Referees and Judges and Administrators.”
Among the certified Referees and judges is Ssuna John, he welcomed the certificate with both hands and said that it’s to help him to upgrade to star three level.
“I was among those who studied star one R&J course and passed, this certificate going to help me add on my skills in refereeing.
This is level one but o want to study even to get the last star which is star three such that I can officiate even the international games.”
Currently Uganda has only one International referee, Akiga Fula.