Omar Salman Al Slaise was upbeat.
The president of the Bahrain Boxing Federation (BBF) had just gotten off the phone with the chairman of the Bahrain Rugby Football Club (BRFC). “We were discussing the possibility of organising another tournament like the Royal Rumble,” he said, animatedly. “It looks like we’re going to get things moving soon.”
The Royal Rumble, a charity event held last Saturday, saw boxers from the Royal Guard of Bahrain face off against opponents from the British Army’s Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. A huge success – it generated just under BD60,000 for the designated charity, Bahrain’s Royal Humanitarian Foundation – the Rumble also saw the Guards winning eight of the nine keenly-contested bouts.
“The 8-1 score-line was a surprise, to be honest,” Al Slaise said. “I’d been told that it would probably end up being about 50-50. But the score-card underlines the kind of talent we have and the progress we are making.”
The future of boxing in Bahrain is bright, he said.
With the federation’s sights set on qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Al Slaise said, five young boxers from a rapidly expanding pool had already been marked as prospects for extensive training camps, to be held in Bahrain and in other countries, such as Canada, England and Holland.
“Boxing has a process, a philosophy, a mind-set,” Al Slaise said. “So, while these boys might have amazing natural talents, these training camps will enable them to fine-tune their skills.”
For example, in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021 after a year-long delay caused by Covid-19, Bahrain’s lone entry, the country’s first ever in the boxing competition, had trained at the elite GB Boxing facility in England, Al Slaise explained.
“GB Boxing trains the best male and female boxers in England, Scotland and Wales,” Al Slaise said. “Danis Latypov, our entry in the super heavyweight division at Tokyo, trained at GB for a couple of months in their World Class Performance Programme (WCPP). He even got to spar once with Anthony Joshua, the former heavyweight champion!”
The 6’4” Russian-born boxer didn’t make it beyond the first round at Tokyo. “But that didn’t matter,” Al Slaise stressed. “The amount of interest in his journey to, and in, the Olympics proved to be a great fillip for the sport in Bahrain. The result was immaterial. Of course, we would have liked to see him progress but he was a great ambassador for us and a champion with spirit.”
There were plans now, Al Slaise said, to build on the interest and exposure generated by Latypov’s Olympic journey.
“We are focusing on grassroots and infrastructure development,” Al Slaise said. “We will engage with schools and, soon hopefully, have a larger pool of international-level athletes to choose from. There’s a lot of interest in sports, generally, in Bahrain and boxing is becoming very popular.”
Amongst immediate plans is a search for a female coach. “We have to be respectful of Bahraini culture,” Al Slaise explained. “Some of the girls and women who want to train as boxers might not be comfortable with a male coach so we have to be mindful of that.”
In the long-term, the rapidly-rising popularity of the sport meant that the BBF could also aim for eventually hosting a global boxing event, such as a world heavyweight bout, Al Slaise said. “That would be in the not-too-distant future. I can’t state an exact time-frame but, maybe, in the next few years, we could be well-equipped to stage an event like that.”
Bahrain is no stranger to hosting global events with the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix a popular annual feature in the international racing circuit since 2004. The kingdom has also been home to various international Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) competitions over the past few years.
Meanwhile, Al Slaise said, the federation was grateful for the continued support and patronage of Supreme Council for Youth and Sports first deputy chairman, General Sports Authority chairman and Bahrain Olympic Committee president Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
“It would be remiss of me not to mention Tony Davis, our national coach and technical advisor, who has been single-handedly responsible forthe progress our boxers have made over the past few years,” Al Slaise said. “And I’m confident that, under his tutelage, our boxers will make some impact in Paris.”
In the interim, there are plans to make the Royal Rumble an annual feature, to be hosted alternately by Bahrain and England every year, Al Slaise said.
“The benefits will be multi-fold for our boxers,” he explained. “They’ll be able to train in foreign conditions, spar with the best in the business, before the Rumble when it is held in England. That will aid their development exponentially.”
But before that, Al Slaise said he was thankful to the BRFC chairman, Mike Cunningham, and his club for having helped to organise the Rumble.
“He’s been absolutely phenomenal,” Al Slaise said. “It wouldn’t have been possible without him and his club’s support.”
Now, as he looked to the future and all that it held for boxing in Bahrain, Al Slaise was upbeat.
“We’re preparing for the Asian Games in September,” he said. “Some of our boxers will be heading to Romania soon to train there. Romania has very good training facilities and our boys will benefit from the experience.
Appointed by Shaikh Khalid to his post last December, Al Slaise heaped praise on past BBF presidents.
“We’ve come a long way in a relatively short while,” he said. “The credit, obviously, goes to my predecessors who really laid the foundation for where we are at present. I’m just carrying on the good work they started.”
Caught up by the sport, Al Slaise said he had also started following the boxing training regimen.
“It’s healthy and it’s fun,” he laughed. “Quite taxing, physically, but very fulfilling.”
Boxing will be one of the sports on display at the National Sports Day, a three-day event organised by the Bahrain Sports for All Association that starts today at the Bahrain International Circuit.
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