Boxing unfazed despite tough Commonwealth Games outing
Calistus Kolantsho | Tuesday August 4, 2026 10:22
The boxing body has now shifted its attention to qualifying for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. Boxing secured its continuity in the Olympic programme following the recognition of World Boxing (WB) as an international federation by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Boxing’s future in the Olympic Games in recent years had been in doubt due to the International Boxing Association's (IBA) governance and transparency issues, which led the IOC to suspend its recognition in 2019.
In December last year, BoBA president, Dirang Thipe was elected African Boxing Board member under World Boxing.
He told Sport Monitor that returning home without a Commonwealth Games medal does not affect his LA28 plans.
“We have just returned to Olympic boxing and we have started our preparations and I believe things will go according to plan. Commonwealth Games was our first big assignment,” Thipe said.
“We realised that we need better preparation plans on time. We also need to engage more with the Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) and National Sport Commission (NSC) for proper preparations,” he added.
Boxing had sent a team of Lethabo Modukane and Gift Modise who did proceed to the second round while Treasure Moremi lost 5-0 to an Indian boxer in the quarter final bout.
Thipe revealed that Moremi lost to a seasoned boxer while Modise made her international debut and the team did well.
For his part, judo coach, William Ndoumbe said competing in the bronze medal finals was stressful adding that it was for the first time in the history of Botswana Judo to reach that level at the Commonwealth Games.
He said this is an indication that they are working towards something big.
According to Ndoumbe, losing two bronze medals is not easy but they will continue to work hard.
Botswana was represented by Botho Babutsi in the women’s -48kg and lost against Scotland while Tumiso Phuthego battled it out in the men’s -60kg division and also lost by an ippon against Australia.
“The lesson from the Commonwealth Games is that success is not something which comes without strong preparations (good training, good test matches or friendship matches). “A following up of the athletes and coaches during their training and after, a good management of the psychological pressure and good management of injuries. Our athletes have good potential and they can do better results by challenging world class athletes,” he said.
Ndoumbe said with hard and constant work, the team will achieve good results in the future and he will continue to do that as a coach.
Meanwhile, things did not go according to plan for the athletics team as Oratile Nowe missed out on a podium finish, claiming position four clocking 2:01.29 in the women’s 800m.
The rising 200m sprinter, Prince Phaezel Selepe finished in position eight with a time of 20.60s while Obakeng Kamberuka also finished in position eight stopping the clock at 52.53s for the women’s 400m.
Tshepiso Masalela settled for position 12 out of 13 athletes in the men’s one mile clocking 3:58.89.
The race was won by World Record holder, Josh Kerr of Scotland in 3:54.12 with Cameron Myers of Australia securing the silver medal in 3:55.26 and Kenyan middle distance runner, Timothy Cheruiyot claimed the bronze medal in 3:55.41. Botswana also competed in swimming and bowling.