Hellen Baleke (born 3 May 1987) is a Ugandan

amateur boxer Amateur boxing is a variant of boxing practiced at the collegiate level, at the Olympic Games, Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games, as well as many associations. Amateur boxing bouts are short in duration, comprising three rounds of three ...

notable for being the first Ugandan woman to win a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

at the 2019 All Africa Games.

Boxing career

Hellen Baleke took up boxing in 2005 as a trainee with Rhino Club before moving to KCCA Boxing Club in 2008. She competes in the

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

division. She has also represented Uganda internationally with the She Bombers and is coached by Mercy Mukankusi. She has represented Uganda at the

2014 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships The 2014 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships was initially scheduled to be held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. from September to October 2014. Boxing Canada withdrew from hosting when it could not find a venue that was available for dates sui ...

Jeju Jeju may refer to: * Jeju Island (Jejudo), an island near South Korea * Jeju Province (formerly transliterated Cheju), a province of South Korea comprising Jejudo **Jeju City, the biggest city on Jejudo **Jeju dog, a dog native to Jejudo ** Jeju l ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, where she lost to eventual Gold medal winner,

Claressa Shields Claressa Maria Shields (born March 17, 1995) is an American professional boxer and mixed martial artist. She has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the undisputed female light middleweight title since March 2021 ...

. She also participated in the

2019 African Games The 12th African Games was held from 19 to 31 August 2019 in Rabat, Morocco. This was the first time that the African Games were hosted by Morocco following the country's readmission to the African Union in January 2017. Bidding process The 12th ...

, where she fought

Khadija El-Mardi Khadija Mardi (born 1 February 1991), also known as Khadija El Mardi, is a Moroccan boxer. She is the current Heavyweight women's IBA World Boxing Champion. Career Mardi competed in the women's middleweight event at the 2016 Summer Olympi ...

en route to winning the bronze medal.

Personal life

Hellen Baleke was born to Sarah Bagoole in

Kayunga District Kayunga District is a district in Central Uganda. It is named after its chief town, Kayunga. Geography Kayunga District is bordered by Amolatar District to the north, Buyende District to the northeast, Kamuli District to the east, Jinja Distric ...

. Hellen Baleke is a mother of two and is the elder sister of She Bombers boxer, Diana Tulyanabo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baleke, Hellen 1987 births Living people African Games medalists in boxing Competitors at the 2019 African Games Ugandan women boxers African Games bronze medalists for Uganda Middleweight boxers People from Kayunga District 20th-century Ugandan women 21st-century Ugandan women Sportspeople from Central Region, Uganda