Local boxers geared up for Namibia showdown
Kabelo Boranabi | Friday September 23, 2016 15:53
Speaking to Mmegi Sport yesterday, the team’s coach Lechedzani ‘Master’ Luza said despite assembling a relatively new team, he is optimistic they will put up a good fight on Saturday.
“They are in good shape and they are geared up for the day. The morale is very high in the camp, we have a new crop of boxers in the camp. We are just ready for the tournament, so we can give it our best,” he said.
Commenting on the selection criteria, Luza sent a stern warning to the boxers who did not make it in the national team, as he said he had chosen the boxers looking at their current form in the local competitions and would continue to do so for future events.
“Our boxers have tendency of thinking that they would be selected for the national camp looking at their history.
We no longer pick names. We are no longer with that trend, but we look at how they have been performing in the local events. So we advise our boxers to participate in the local tournaments so they could make it for the team,” he said.
The Botswana Boxing Association (BoBA) had an amateur boxing tournament earlier yesterday morning that was used as part of the national team trials for the independence tourney.
BoBA boxer of the year Zibani Chikanda of the 75kg category would lead an eight boxers team that comprises Africa Youth Games (AYG) gold medallist Mohammed Otukile (62kg), Moabi Ngaka (60kg), Kefentse Molalapata (60kg), Kabo Seitshiro (64kg), Atang Mosenke (69kg) and female boxers Lethabo Modukanele and Beauty Phori who would be competing in the 48kg and 51kg categories.
The team has been in camp since last week as they have been preparing at the BoBA gym room at the National Stadium. Luza said they had encountered some problems, which they managed to overcome. “The majority of the team are either engaged in their work or school commitments. That limited our training periods.
So we had to shift out training to early mornings so we can have longer training sessions,” he said. The team had practice bouts with the UB and Prisons boxing clubs.
There would be interclub bouts on the day while the Botswana versus Namibia clash would follow.