By BENEDICTA ADEBGOYEGA

Nigerian female boxer, Kehinde Obare has high hopes that she will qualify to represent the country at the 2016 Rio Olympics after narrowly missing the London 2012 Games last year.

Obare who is the national champion in the 60kg category from the last national championships in Lagos stated that she was seriously working hard to earn a ticket to be at the Olympics as it represents the highest level of participation in the sport.

“I have high hopes that I will qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympics. In 2012  I was very close to achieving that. By God’s grace my training is going on well and we are getting all the support from the boxing federation,” said the boxer who is also very good at kick boxing.

Female boxing was introduced into the Olympics in 2012 and Nigeria had only one female boxer in London, she was Edith Ogoke who could only manage a quarter-final finish.

Obare who believes that hard work leads to success said “I  will be in Rio by God’s grace to have my own Olympics experience,” adding that she was looking forward to the female world championship in three months time, where she can show her skills, so as to take her to the next level of her career.

She also commended the government for their good works on sports and boxing in particular, and urged the government to continue to support athletes so they could achieve their potential.