Oranjemund-based Metumo Training Academy-(MTA) Boxing on Saturday received boxing training equipment worth N.dollars 30 000 from Namdeb in Windhoek.
The equipment includes gloves, punching bags, headgear, shoes, and skipping ropes amongst others.
Speaking at the handover ceremony, the Manager and Owner of the academy Metumo Himene said the academy will use the equipment accordingly to improve the boxers’ training.
“I cannot find words to express how grateful I am to Namdeb. Happiness and joy are just too much. It will boost MTA in terms of training and fight preparations. It will also help us fight COVID-19 as boxers will now avoid sharing gloves,” Himene said.
He added that most boxing clubs are suffering financially while most academy owners end up using their own financial resources to make sure that boxers are getting the right equipment and training methods.
He said at times boxers suffer injuries during sparring sessions as they use the wrong headgears and gloves.
Namdeb Brand Manager Shangelao Ndadi told Nampa that her organisation will continue to explore avenues where it can to create a more sustainable impact on communities in Namibia.
“We responded to the needs of MTA because we believe that one of the ways to empowering our youth is through sports. MTA has demonstrated that they are an excellent platform that aims to make a difference in the community of Swakopmund and Oranjemund,” she said.
She added that responding to MTA is a way of capacitating the academy to achieve its goals, noting that sports have a unique language that inspires positive values.
“It’s important for companies to collaborate and use sports as a way of making a difference in the lives of Namibians, rather than supporting sports as a way of marketing tool. Through sports important social issues such as education, youth, and family development, health and wellness are addressed, especially amongst the boy child,” Ndadi said.
One of the boxers at the academy Fillemon “Nadhi” Nghutenyane said the equipment will help him and his boxing stablemates to train and prepare well for upcoming fights when COVID-19 regulations allow for them to start training.
The MTA boxing academy trains over 25 boxers between the ages of 12 and 31 in Oranjemund and Swakopmund, with seven of them being professional boxers and the rest are amateurs.