BOTSWANA BOXING WOES AT REGION 5 GAMES
BY:Kabelo Seleka
GABORONE:Botswana Boxing team for AUSC region 5 games sang no national anthem due to woeful display in all categories and divisions registered for at the medal award ceremony held yesterday at Ditshupo hall for gold rush at the ongoing 8th edition of the games.
Team Botswana fabricated their voyage to the finals with 6 boxers.The 3 ladies whom played only in the final were guaranteed a silver medal at level worst.
The host nation played only against South Africa(SA) for the ladies where they lost all 3 bouts in a row.
Gosego Baoki curtain raised the punch festival for the day with a 3-2 split decision loss to Dila Vuyolwethu(48-51kg), Oteng Letlowa(57kg-60kg) also follow suit to lose 4-1 against Amorie Gonsalves and humiliation geared up as the the reigning BOBA`s promising female boxer of the year whom eagerly was anticipated to pull a gold performance ill-performed to register an unanimous loss against Philile Ndelu(69kg-75kg).
Woeful performance by the host team intensified in bout number 4 where men category was ignited by Festus Madiehe(49kg) as he was boxing against the Zambian speedster and aggressive puncher in Patrick Chinyemba.Chinyemba won by unanimous decision.
Brian Galemongwe also awfully lost the first round and second round with ease against SA’s John Masamba.Brian tried to fight back in the last round which was too late specifically in the first half of the final round as he was characterized by fatigue towards the end of the bout.Brian was after some moments quickly rushed to the hospital due to rub injury sustained from an anonimus decision loss.
Tshepang Kapinga also handed Zambian man Steven Zimba a walkover due to an injury he sustained in the semi-finals.
In total of the host team concocted with 11 boxers.Team Botswana muddle along with 3 bronzes and 6 silvers from the regional youth Olympics.
The coach of team Botswana Boxing Mr Bugalo Phillimon decreed of preparations for the games.
For the ladies,they were debuting their first international bouts in the year 2018 in a high stake tourney.
In addition the team as a whole did not have enough exposure for such events of magnitude as they only boxed Zimbabwe for a friendly before boxing Namibia in an effort to acclimatize the boxers.
Coach Bugalo says he is bit disappointed with the outcomes of the results and the reaction of his boxers to his instructions though he is proud of the team.
Bugalo further elaborated that as Botswana we need to work on many things.
“there are lot of things that we have to work on as Botswana infact starting with camping and exposure”notes Bugalo.
Moreover UB/Tsholofelo Boxing Stable coach Lechezhani “Master” Luza was sighted on social media opining his view on terrible team performance according to Botswana boxing standards and ideals.
The status reads “Those who have been in boxing will tell you we have never lost 3 bouts in a row to South Africa at any competition in boxing. I’m hurt, I am embarrassed. I wish we’ll learn something as boxing family. If you care to know how we lost come and see me. Our opponents aren’t good enough, we simply aren’t prepared despite being hosts.”
SA’s coach Khambilani Jack who was partly not happy with judging on the day says that Zambian’s are not that good and look old for the tournament but he is happy for his boys and girls never die attitude.
Meanwhile the big winner of the tournament was team Zambia which had 6 finalist in 7 men categories.Zambia won all their bouts to go home with 6 golds necklaced on their tough necks.
Zambia’s boxing mentor who was cool and excited for the outcome of the bouts says the boxers are responsive to their training programs and the performance is only the initial step for Zambia’s greatness in boxing.
While Botswana had no gold resulting in national anthem ringing on mute,the next sweetsciece AUSC Region 5 Youth Games boxing ring is expected to be staged in Mshoeshoe Kingdom of Lesotho in December 2020.
