Boxing calls for more Commonwealth Games slots
Calistus Kolantsho | Monday June 1, 2026 06:00
Two boxers, Lethabo Modukanele of Titans Boxing Club and Treasure Moremi from Francistown Boxing Club, alongside their sparring partners, Keatlaretse Modise (Francistown) and Odean Lessau (125 Boxing Club), are in camp preparing for the Commonwealth Games.
Choga Ntoti is the men's team coach, whilst Grace Mmolai is in charge of the women’s side. In what boxing pundits describe as a shocking move, long-serving Tanaka Gibson Rauwe has been dropped as national team coach.
BoBA president, Dirang Thipe, told MmegiSport that Botswana has been given two slots, but they are currently engaging the Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) for an increase.
“We are worried about the number of slots allocated to us. We are engaging with the BNOC to see if they can or cannot get us more slots. This is the team that I want to build on as we push for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games qualification. The qualification games will be coming through in different formats, and I want to use each game to qualify. My focus is to qualify two or three boxers for the Olympics,” he said.
Boxing last competed at the Olympics in 2020 through Keamogetse Sadie Kenosi and Muhammad Otukile Rajab. Thipe said it is not going to be easy to qualify, especially with such low numbers.
He explained that World Boxing has released the qualification system for the Olympics, which is made up of three global competitions and five continental events, which means that boxers will have up to four opportunities to secure a place at LA28.
“We will have one qualification opportunity in Africa and three World qualification games. My wish is for two boxers to qualify during the Africa qualifications and two to qualify at the World qualifications,” Thipe said.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned boxing in 2019 over governance issues. We are now coming in through World Boxing, which has new weight categories, which means we had to make changes. But I am hopeful that we will qualify,” he added.
The selection of the team faced scrutiny as some felt that the selected boxers were not at a level to represent Botswana at the Commonwealth Games. “We feel there are other deserving boxers, more especially in the male category; there are other boxers better than Moremi in that category,” a source said.
In April, BoBA launched a national league, which has since stopped due to a lack of funding. Thipe explained that they decided to pause the league due to financial challenges. “We started the league towards the end of the financial year, and when it came to an end, we had to pause. This financial year, the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) has allocated us the same amount from 2025-2026, which is P500, 000. As soon as the funds hit our account, the league will resume,” he said.
Meanwhile, Commonwealth Games Chef de Mission, Tebogo Ntesang, told MmegiSport that they have been allocated two more slots by the Games organisers. “We have received two more slots this week, and we are yet to allocate them to the National Sport Associations,” Ntesang said.