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Landing Jammeh is new Gambian Kick Boxing Champion

Dec 3, 2014, 10:16 AM

Landing Jammeh is the new Gambian Kick Boxing Champion after pinning down Babucarr Jawara of Mali in the maiden edition of a sub-regional kick boxing championship organised by the Gambia Muay Thai Kick Boxing Association.

The Sunday event, held at the B.O. Semega Janneh hall of Serekunda east, brought together four countries in the sub-region, namely Senegal, Mali, Guinea Conakry and Guinea Bissau.

In the 60kg fight, Gambian Sundiata Keita defeated Lamin Jallow of Senegal in the second round of the three and Modou Jarju also a Gambian fighter conceived a hard-fought win over a Bissau Guinean in the name of Alasana Barry.

The event, according to the organizers, is meant to select top Gambian fighters out of the blues for its national team.

Even though Kick Boxing continues to be practised in Asia and around the world, the game has also been transformed into a sporting discipline in Africa including The Gambia.

One of the institutions at the forefront of this transformation is the United States Muay Thai Association (USMTA) with leagues in different parts of America and expanding around the world.

One of those leagues is called the African League whose director is a Gambian based in the US, Bakary Sisuho.

So in a sense, the Gambia dominates this maiden edition of the fighting competition, with landing Jammeh, Sundiata Keita, Modou Jarju and Saibou Tunkara all emerging with flying colors from the event.