Moroccan Boxing Federation Overhauls Leadership After Olympic Disappointment

Pending a general assembly, the Royal Moroccan Boxing Federation (FRMB) has decided to dissolve the National Technical Directorate. An emergency decision in the face of the debacle of the boxers in Tokyo. For the National Technical Director of the FRMB, Mounir Berbouchi, the Moroccan boxers had already lost their fights before even stepping into the ring, reports the daily Al Ahdath Al Maghribia.

He explains that the defeats that accumulated in Japan were like premeditated. "The Moroccan boxers looked dazed in the ring, showing no combativeness or desire to try to come back." Worse still, they had arrived overweight in Tokyo. This is the case of Youness Baalla who engaged in a -91 kg fight when he weighed over a hundred. Same problem with Mohamed Hammout engaged in the -57 kg category when he weighed much more. A ten-day diet allowed them to regain their regulatory weight.

According to his analysis, this is explained by the threats made by the latter, demanding the payment of the qualification bonus for the Olympics. The boxers had demanded a 200,000 DH bonus each during the pre-Olympic preparation phase before participating in the training camp in Russia. They also complained about the lack of encouragement from the FRMB, a rather demotivating factor, according to them.

Moreover, there was the sidelining of the Moroccan and African champion, Khadija El Mardi, who became a mother two months before the Olympics. The doctors did not authorize her to participate in the Olympics, fearing that she would receive a blow that would be fatal to her. However, it was criticized that the FRMB did not replace her in time with another boxer.

To all this must be added the squabbles between the technical management and the boxers in Tokyo. Even though he has submitted his resignation, Mounir Berbouchi intends to write a full report on what happened during the stay of the Olympic delegation in Tokyo.