Times Of Swaziland: PEARL FOR SUCKER-PUNCH!

PEARL FOR SUCKER-PUNCH!
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Pholsile Hlophe on 19/05/2022 08:52:00


MBABANE – The future of boxing in Africa is in Eswatini’s Pearl Dlamini’s
hands and all in three months.
Soon after her historic election into the International Boxing Association (IBA)
independent Board of Directors (BoD) on Saturday in Istanbul, Turkey; the IBA
President, Umar Kremlev, who said that this was the ‘Year of Africa’, tasked
Dlamini to have come up with that masterstroke proposal for taking boxing to
another level in Africa. The former Eswatini Boxing Association (EBA) President
and New Boys Boxing Club Director, as well Eswatini Olympic and Commonwealth
Games Association (EOCGA) Board member, is one of the 10 elected Board of
Directors for the IBA. She is the only African, as she continues to make history
in her sporting career that dates back to 1996, when she became her late father
Felix Muir’s New Boys Boxing Club secretary. The team had been formed in 1992.
enormous
Responding to a questionnaire sent to her by this publication on Tuesday
evening, Dlamini revealed that her first task was an enormous but exciting one
for the African continent and Eswatini at large. Her task is to put together a
programme on the things that ought to be done to support and develop the scope
of Africa boxing this year. “I need to develop and table a proposal in the
next Quarterly Board Meeting (QBM). But for me to do that, I will need to first
conduct an extensive assessment of the state of boxing across all of Africa.
“This will help us to understand the different needs and areas where attention
can be given in each country in Africa. Help will then be segmented according to
the priority areas, and those in need of major support like Eswatini will be in
the priority list. I have three months to deliver on my first assignment,” she
responded when questioned what her first task was as IBA BoD.
The ‘Queen of Africa Boxing’, as they affectionately call her throughout
Africa and beyond, assured her dedication to fighting and protecting her
continent’s interest in the sport. This includes women empowerment in
administration and athleticism as well as ensuring that the African continent
benefits from the funding to be availed for reform programmes. “History has
been made. We have never had a female candidate elected in the IBA Board. We
have never had someone from Southern Africa. So, being a first for Eswatini and
the African continent, it means Africa now has a voice within the IBA Board,
someone who will lobby, influence and push for their cases to be heard. Priority
and attention will be given to them in terms of support, especially in the
reform programmes. Africa will be represented across all the Committees,” she
said.
This highly influential lady is renowned for breaking barriers and setting
historic records, as a female administrator in male dominated sectors as she
became the first female boxing association president in the whole world, when
she was elected into then SWABA, now EBA as president for two terms running
during the period of 2011 and 2020.