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28/03/2008
Haringey trip to Ghana
By Terri Kelly
Haringey Police and Community Amateur Boxing club returned home recently from a highly successful trip to Ghana.
The team of seven boxers led by club treasurer Constable Ken Marsh and secretary/coach Constable Gerry Willmott were met at Kotoko airport in Accra by Mr Gideon Quartey, chairman of the Greater Accra Boxing Association and a posse of TV cameras and journalists all wanting an interview with the British party.
The boxers, looking resplendent in their new sponsored tracksuits and led by team captain Kingsley Okolie, were only too willing to pose for the cameras and give their views on the forthcoming contests.
The Greater Accra Amateur Boxing team had the shock of their lives when they were outclassed by their visiting English counterparts, Haringey Police and Community boxing team in the first international tournament on Saturday.
Bout report.
The first contest which was staged in Bukom, Accra - the home of Ghana Boxing. It saw the much-determined English team completely overwhelm their hosts, making their pugilist opponents look stamina-suspect.
The Haringey Police and Community team won four of the six bouts. The demolition started during the flyweight contest between Greater Accra's Samuel Yaw Addo and Ashley Sexton of the UK team. Addo launched his campaign on a bright note at the early stages of the bout with series of punches and jabs right from the onset against Sexton, but he later ran out of steam. Sexton capitalised on his reach, height and stamina advantage to hand out some great boxing tutorials to Addo, who had run out of gas by the second round. The young Brit who became the toast of the fans was adjudged the winner, courtesy a 4-1 verdict.
In the lightweight division, The UK team's Sam Ojomo defeated Evans Dodoo by a similar result, raising further concerns about the technical and tactical abilities of the host team. The hard-hitting Ojomo was too tall a mountain for Dodoo to climb, as the latter could only contend with feeble punches in distress after the first round.
Chris Webb completed a hat-trick for the visiting team with a unanimous victory over Odoi Yemefio in the Light Welterweight division.
Webb, completely outboxed the game Yemefio to win on the score cards of all the five judges.
Emmanuel Quarshie restored some hope for the Greater Accra team courtesy of a split decision (3-2) victory over Eric Ochieng in the welterweight class. The evenly contested bout saw the Haringey boxer relentlessly stalking Quarshi for the whole four rounds.
In the middleweight division, Greater Accra's Charles Stella defeated Kinsley Okolie in one of the heated encounters of the night. Both boxers gave their all with the shorter Okolie bobbing and weaving trying to find a way through his opponent's longer reach, with great success at times and the result was somewhat of a shock to his corner when it was announced.
Luke Robinson finished of the night with a much deserved win against the heavily muscled Sampson Dzaku in his light heavyweight bout. Robinson started off cautiously but came on stronger the longer the fight went on to give his team their fourth win of the night.
Coach Gerry Willmott when asked about his teams surprise win said: "I never doubted my boxer's ability to win, but the heat was crippling from the first round and I was pleased how they battled through it. They got a bit worried when we went 3 - 0 up and I think the bouts after that reflected their concern. The Ghanaian boxers were very strong but not as fit as I thought they would be."
The Haringey team during their visit presented the Greater Accra boxing Assoc with a brand new boxing ring and 20 pairs of boxing gloves and other equipment. Ken Marsh the club treasurer said: "When we see the poor facilities and equipment they have in Ghana it was a pleasure to help and repay the great hospitality they have shown to us during our stay."
The Haringey Police and Community Boxing Team completed their tour of Ghana on a high note by defeating hosts, the Greater Accra Amateur Boxing Team 3-2 in the final International Amateur Boxing Tournament held at the Prisons Canteen, Cantonment on Wednesday night.
The feat saw the visiting team complete a double over their hosts in two separate contests
Boxers from both teams displayed some high level of boxing artistry which kept the enthusiastic crowd on their feet for the greater part of the night.
Ashley Sexton got his second win of the tour over Jesse Lartey, sexton had to use all of his skill and experience to overcome his younger but very competent opponent, Sexton got the decision 3-2. Lartey was the son of the Ghana team coach.
Offei Dodoo restored hope for the host team beating Sam Ojomo in the lightweight division. Dodoo is one of a few boxers who can boast of an unbeaten record during the GAABA Boxing League.
In the light welterweight division, Chris Webb completed a 3-2 victory over Ben Lamptey. The very strong Ghanaian kept Webb boxing off the back foot for most of the four rounds, Webb was slipping punches and countering to great applause from the crowd.
Eric Ochieng overpowered King Paul of Greater Accra in the welterweight class. King Paul had stated earlier in a press conference he would knock out Ochieng in the first round and was regretting his words as the Haringey boxer was the fitter and stronger of the two and saw Ochieng get the decision 5-0.
In the final bout of the night Luke Robinson faced yet another man mountain in Yaw Boniface. Robinson stuck to his boxing using his jab to keep his opponent at bay but the heat finally got to the Haringey boxer, his corner retiring him half way through the third round. Coach Gerry Willmott said: "Luke is the youngest of our boxers out here, I saw the heat was slowing him down and as we had already the tournament I decided there was no point leaving him in there any longer."
Kingsley Okolie was unable to box through injury.
Ruth Raper was unable to box through Illness.
Gerry Willmott concluded: "This trip has been a great experience for all the Haringey boxers, coaches and friends. The boxers have performed superbly, combating the heat and bouts of sickness they have all suffered with during their stay here. The sights and memories we take from this tour will stay with us forever, along with the great hospitality shown to us by our Ghanaian counterparts, and I would like to thank all who made this possible and especially John Ruck of Bridge Communications who sponsored all our kit and the gloves we gave to Ghana boxing."
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