- Title: LIBERIA: Liberian youth fight to rebuild their lives through boxing, update
- Date: 4th June 2010
- Summary: MONROVIA, LIBERIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BOXER GEORGE KPANGBAI HITTING HAND PADS WORN BY BOXING TRAINER ARKU KORTEE IN RING EXTERIOR OF GYM (SOUNDBITE) (English) BOXING TRAINER ARKU KORTEE, SAYING: "You know when the young guys are not busy doing something that will bring fortune to their future, they try to turn bad. So boxing makes them to think about their future and makes them to be a good kid and good young guys coming out in life." VARIOUS OF KORTEE HOLDING HEAVY PUNCH BAG WHILE BOXER HITS IT (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARTIAL ARTS ENTHUSIAST LARRY MACDUFFY BRUCE, SAYING: "Athletes in Liberia are here -- You know before, if you come to this gym you see a lot of boxers. If you go to the dojo you see a lot of martial artists. But because of this problem... martial art or boxing, most people have become very hopeless in the sense that they have become discouraged." VARIOUS OF STREET SPORTS REPORTER FOMBAH KANNEH SEATED AT DESK IN BROADCAST STUDIO (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPORTS REPORTER FOMBAH KANNEH, SAYING: "A man can go train whole day, whole night, then he eating just a piece of (of) bread. He go, he live below the poverty line, he lives on one dollar a day or less than that." KPANGBAI RUNNING UP STEEP HILL VARIOUS OF RUSTY CANNON HILLTOP GUN (SOUNDBITE) (English) BOXER GEORGE KPANGBAI, SAYING: "I try to make my way through because I love the sport, I try to, to... fighting, training, sometimes taking part in local competitions. But yet still it's not enough because whenever there's a trip to outside to have a greater ... experience, it's unfortunate for us that we don't go because government says they don't have money." VARIOUS OF KPANGBAI SHADOW BOXING ON OLD GUN EMPLACEMENT SURROUNDED BY OLD RUSTY CANNONS RUSTY CANNON LIBERIA'S DEPUTY MINISTER OF SPORTS MARBUE RICHARDS AT HIS DESK (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIBERIA'S DEPUTY MINISTER OF SPORTS MARBUE RICHARDS, SAYING: "Next month is the end of the budget, the fiscal year, and we have not even been able to get 45 percent of what we, you know, we're supposed to be getting or what the, the appropriations, because fund, funding is not available. So when the federations come and say we have a competition to go to, it's going to cost me, cost us 20,000 dollars or 15,000 or 50,000 dollars and the funds are not there, the funds are not there." VARIOUS OF KPANGBAI STRAPPING UP HIS HANDS TO PREPARE FOR SPARRING DIM LIGHT BULB ON CEILING OF GYM VARIOUS OF KPANGBAI SPARRING IN RING AT GYM WITH ANOTHER BOXER SIGN AT GYM READING: 'BABY JOE'S HOUSE OF PAINS' KPANGBAI WITH HIS FISTS RAISED IN CELEBRATION
- Embargoed: 19th June 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Liberia
- Country: Liberia
- Topics: Lifestyle,Sports
- Reuters ID: LVA28HOMGFN4HKRKPL8HZLYMPWLO
- Story Text: At the end of a dark alley in the centre of the Liberian capital stands 'Baby Joes House of Pain', the country's only boxing gym.
Here -- under a dim light -- Liberia's boxing community meets in the evenings to train, hitting punching bags, skipping ropes and sparring in a makeshift boxing ring.
Many are drawn to the sport and use it as a form of distraction in a country that is still struggling to rebuild its infrastructure after its 14-year civil war ended in 2003.
The war killed 250,000 people and left a generation of youth lost and traumatised. Many young people were forcibly recruited into rebel factions and now see sports like boxing as a a good way to let out emotions of anger and build a sense of unity in a country where peace is still bolstered by the presence of over 8,000 United Nation troops.
The gym's head coach Arku Kortee, trains Liberian boxers five nights a week. He began boxing for Liberia in 1984 and represented the country in the 1992 Olympic Games.
When he returned the war had intensified, forcing him to abandon his professional career.
Eventually he turned to coaching and rose to the position of head coach when Liberian boxing legend, Baby Joe, died in 2006.
"You know when the young guys are not busy doing something that will bring fortune to their future, they try to turn bad. So boxing makes them to think about their future and makes them to be a good kid and good young guys coming out in life," said said coach Kortee.
But Liberia's athletes are not exempt from the country's many problems. An 80 percent unemployment rate and an annual government budget of only 347 million U.S. dollars -- submitted by Liberia's president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for 2010-11 -- mean that neither the athletes nor the government have enough money to adequately support sports.
For many athletes, training has to take second place to the daily difficulties of getting by and providing for their families.
Larry Macduffy Bruce -- a martial arts enthusiast -- said that poverty and damage to the economy during the war were largely to blame for the lack of sports development in Liberia.
"Athletes in Liberia are here -- You know before, if you come to this gym you see a lot of boxers. If you go to the dojo you see a lot of martial artists. But because of this problem... martial art or boxing, most people have become very hopeless in the sense that they have become discouraged," said Bruce in an interview with Reuters.
Not only do Liberian athletes have enough money to train, but they often cannot get the suitable nutrition to support the rigourous training programmes of professional athletes.
Sports reporter Fombah Kanneh, said the current lifestyle of sportsmen does not allow them to grow:
"A man can go train whole day, whole night, then he eating just a piece of (of) bread. He go, he live below the poverty line, he lives on one dollar a day or less than that."
But not all Liberian athletes are allowing their day-to-day problems get them down.
George 'The Hurricane' Kpangbai, is a Liberian boxer desperate to go abroad to train and fulfil his potential. He is planning to go to Ghana because he says there aren't enough facilities for him to reach international standards in Liberia.
Kpangbai trains all over the city, running up to the top of Monrovia's steep-sided Ducor Hill and shadow boxing among the rusty cannons on a gun emplacement that looks over the coastline.
"I try to make my way through because I love the sport, I try to, to... fighting, training, sometimes taking part in local competitions. But yet still it's not enough because whenever there's a trip to outside to have a greater ... experience, it's unfortunate for us that we don't go because government says they don't have money," said Kpangbai.
Football is traditionally the more popular sport in Liberia and many people refer to the governing Ministry of Youth and Sports as, 'the ministry of football'. However Liberia has not qualified for the world cup this year.
Deputy Minister of Sport, Marbue Richards said he is working hard to divert attention and resources away from football to minor sports like boxing. It is here that he feels the country has the potential to win medals.
However, the annual budget for boxing is still only 3000 U.S. dollars nation-wide and the ministry said it often does not receive the full allotted amount from the Ministry of Finance.
"Next month is the end of the budget, the fiscal year, and we have not even been able to get 45 percent of what we, you know, we're supposed to be getting or what the, the appropriations, because fund, funding is not available. So when the federations come and say we have a competition to go to, it's going to cost me, cost us 20,000 dollars or 15,000 or 50,000 dollars and the funds are not there, the funds are not there," Richards said.
Kpangbai will be leaving for Ghana this month for training. Liberia's many problems mean that many of the country's ambitious athletes will do their utmost to follow in his footsteps. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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