By Femi Atolagbe

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“My plan is to become a professional boxer in no distant time, says Ondo State female heavyweight boxer gold medalists, Oluwakemi Aliu.
Aliu who stated this in a chat with Sporting Hope in Akure, the state capital, added that she is just waiting for her coach’s directive and also to secure a good Manager for her professional career.
She revealed that she is up to the task of becoming a professional boxer with her experience in the ring.
According to her, “all you need to become a professional boxer is for you to be good boxer, hard working, double your training, because at my current class we bout for three rounds while a professional boxers go as far as 12 rounds, so for you to get there, you must be ready to work harder.”
She added “that I have been representing Ondo State since 2009, and I have never been out on the medals table, in my four Festivals, I won three gold and one silver, in fact, I was robbed in the final at Lagos 2012.”
She described her opponent in her final of the “Edo 2020” Blessing from Delta State as her toughest opponent.
The heavyweight champion said, “despite being seeded in same group with champions, Blessing was outstanding, because she is a good boxer, she boxed with skills like myself, so I was happy because I know I want to box and not a fight.”
So I was happy I triumph over a good and strong boxer in the final.
She pleaded with the state government to boost the state athletes’ morale by rewarding them like their counterparts in other states.
She said “Ondo State has lost many good athletes to other states because ,when you win a gold in other states you have hope of being rewarded bountifully at the end. In the just concluded games, Ondo State indigenes athletes won 16gold medals for other states, if such medals had been added to Ondo’s medals, we would have moved far from number 11 to at least 3rd or 4th on the table.
Thank God the Deputy Governor has made a policy statement when he came to visit us at our camp that government would do something for us this time, the government is a talk and do, I know they will fulfill their promises to us,” she said.