PNG top boxer John Ume is in gearing up to attend more competition this year to build his experience and bring more confidence to his career.
“Having a feel in most international games would help my experience grow and this will help me in career building in Olympics, Oceania and Common Wealth games.”
Mr. Ume who has been representing Papua New Guinea for eight years in a row said, the biggest challenge faced is the COVID- 19 pandemic, which had caused a lot of disturbances in terms closure of gyms and quarantine protocols.
“Everything was hard for me, because I had to abide to pandemic protocols which was a halt to me having to disallow me from training sessions”.
“I was not able to travel out for some of my international games, but I hope to overcome this challenge this time around.”
The amateur boxer resumed his training last week Monday along with Head Coach Mark Keto and other athletes.
“It’s a bit hard coming back for training after having a lot of food with families over the festive period. I had to do a lot to get back to my pace in training.”
“Training is not easy, it’s tough which I believe I need to endure through for my own good”.
Mr. Ume highlighted that he wants to concentrate more on speed and footwork during this training period.
In the meantime, he is preparing towards the National Championship in April, which a team is going to be finalized for the Pacific and Oceania games.
He further thanked the individuals that had helped him along the way including the Head Coach Keto and the sponsors and PNG Sports Foundation together with Boxing Union.