COVENTRY University’s Moatasem Akubaker has set his sights on even more success after taking boxing gold at the 2016 BUCS Nationals.
Akubaker claimed the 69-75kg novice title in Sheffield last Friday, the same day that fellow Coventry University student Reece Roberts won gold for the second year in a row in the 56-60kg open competition.
Akubaker, who is a second year aerospace technology student, won on a unanimous decision against Anglia Ruskin University’s Mohammed Metowlli.
He said: “It feels really good to be a winner at the BUCS Nationals and having my name somewhere that I can look back on with pride.
“I can always say now that this is something that I have achieved and can be proud of and it can also help me to further my career.
“It was a good fight, I knew he was going to move a lot and stay back so I knew I had to cut off the ring well if I was going to win.
“It’s great to be in this environment and to have this experience and I just want to carry on now and go as far as I can.”
There was also success for Coventry University student Jamaal Otto as he defended his men’s senior -84 title on Sunday.
Meanwhile, fellow boxing champion Roberts, who beat Cain Bradley of Portsmouth University in the ring, admitted his second BUCS gold had been hard to come by.
“It was a difficult fight, I thought the first two rounds I was good and then I don’t know what it was but my legs felt a bit weak in the last round,” Roberts said.
“It’s weird because I trained hard for it and I wasn’t expecting to struggle in the last round but we got the gold medal again.
“I won it last year so it’s two years in a row for me which is really great. Overall it wasn’t bad it was just that last round but a win is a win.
“I’m going on a placement year next year so I don’t know if I’ll be back but maybe in two years I can win that third one.
“I knew when I saw the hall that I wanted to put on a good show because I am used to fighting in working men’s clubs and places like that.”
British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) is the national governing body for Higher Education (HE) sport in the UK, organising leagues and competitions for more than 150 institutions across 52 different sports. Partnered by Deloitte, BUCS supports athletes from a grass roots level through to Commonwealth and Olympic Games hopefuls www.bucs.org.uk
