John Gana, National Coordinator of Dambe (Traditional Boxing) on Sunday in Port Harcourt appealed to youths to embrace the combat sport for its promotion.
Gana said that the sport should not be ascribed to Northern sports alone saying that every sport has its traces.
He said that the sport is popular in Republic of Benin, Togo, Niger, Senegal and other African countries except Nigeria.
He said that the sport had been modernised for it to be attractive to youths adding that the more the youths embraced it, the more the promotion.
“Formerly, charms were being used in the sport, but the National Sports Commission (NSC) has cancelled that.
“We have also introduced gloves, which makes it look like modern boxing to reduce bruises and to be attractive to youths,“ Gana said.
He also said that if the sport is embraced by the youths, corporate organisation would not hesitate to sponsor it even like football and other sports.
He, however, beckoned on telecommunications companies: MTN, Airtel, Glo and other conglomerates to help in the sponsorship of the sport.
Gana said that he was happy that 16 states participated in the sport at the ongoing 17th National Sports Festival in Port Harcourt.
He said this year’s participation exceeded the last sports festival which featured only 10 states.
