WITH only three months to the African Amateur Boxing Championships in Mauritius in April, preparations by the national amateur boxing team, the Black Bombers are far from being on course.

The exit of the team’s substantive Cuban coach, Miguel Castellanos has created a huge vacuum, thereby through the team's preparations for this year’s international programmes out of gear.

The Cuban trainer left Accra for his country soon after returning from the Sydney Olympic Games which turned out to be a fiasco.

Reliable sources close to the Ghana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) intimated that Coach Miguel has completed his five-year contract the Cuban Government signed with the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Meanwhile, the Bombers are scheduled to participate in an international tournament in March, some few days before going for the African Championships.

Other competitions earmarked for the Bombers are tournaments for amateur boxers in Africa which are scheduled to take place in Libreville, Kampala and Cairo in May, June and July, respectively.

Another important assignment in the pipeline for the Bombers is the Afro-Asian Games expected to take place in November at a venue that is yet to be announced.

Similar programmes will be repeated next year and in 2003 in addition to the World Championship and the All Africa Games in September where 22 boxers will be selected from the stipulated 56 earmarked for Athens 2004.

Aside of the projected 22 boxers, the 32 remaining boxers will also be selected from three separate qualifying rounds based on their performances, beginning from this year.

The boxers will be selected from the 48 kg to +91 kg categories in all the three stages divided into batches of 12, 12 and 10.

After that, 10 more boxers would be selected among the best African boxers ranked in AIBA recognised tournaments that include the World Championships in June 2003.

Already, all the Bombers who returned from the Sydney Olympic Games have turned professional. This situation has aggravated the problems GABA in their attempt to get a winsome squad.

What makes the Bombers preparations even more crucial is that AIBA has developed a new form of qualification for the Olympics where 10 other boxers would be added to the original 56 to make a total of 66 after the five rounds of qualifications.

When Graphic Sports contacted the Chairman of GABA. Col John Sharpe, on the level of preparations of his team, he confirmed the departure of Coach Miguel, saying his absence is having a serious impact on the training of his boys.

He said that he has informed the Chief Executive of the NSC of the vacuum and the urgent need for a replacement.

At the NSC, the Chief Executive, Brig George Brock confirmed the request for a new coach by GABA, adding that he forwarded it to the former Sports Minister, Mr E. T. Mensah before he left office.

He said that the decision to contract a coach for the Bombers is the sole prerogative of the Ministry since it needs an executive backing.

Meanwhile, attempts at getting the acting Chief Director of the Sports Ministry, Mr Dan Piimi to ascertain whether the Ministry has acted on the letter proved futile because he was not available.