BoBA Hosts Inaugural Tourney In Francistown
Lebogang Mosikare | Monday May 28, 2018 12:12
Fists of fury flew in the air during the spectacular event and in one case one boxer lost her tooth after her opponent hit her with a strong fist on the mouth.
The tournament was attended by many clubs from different parts of the country.
In the first bout, Kobamelo ‘Jaros’ Molathegi of the Eastern Military Garrison defeated Khumoetsile Thekiso of Diamond Trading Company of Botswana (DTCB) 2-1 in a tightly contested fight.
The tournament also included females who showed boxing fans that they are also capable of doing what their male counterparts can do.
Some bouts were won by split decisions while some were won by knockouts which in boxing language is known as Referee Stopped the Contest (RSC). BoBA’s publicity secretary, Taolo Tlouetsile said the interclub tournament take place every fortnight and was hosted by the Francistown Botswana Defence Force (BDF) Boxing Club.
Tlouetsile said the pugilists participate in the tournament to qualify for the end of year BoBA tournament and the African Union Sports Commission (AUSC) Region Five tourney which will be hosted by Botswana in December.
He also stated that they included the youth (some from various senior secondary schools around the country) in order to keep them active because students are only active during the schools’ sporting period. He said: “We try to encourage our clubs to attract women to take part in boxing. We encourage the clubs to find ways mobilise the girl child to participate in boxing.”
Regarding the choice of venue, Tlouetsile said BDF Boxing Club of Francistown decided to make the tournament an outdoor tournament in order to attract multitudes of people who came to the trade fair. “This is another way of taking the sport to the people and I believe that people who are here are happy to physically watch the tournament and not on television as it is usually the case,” said a jovial Tlouestsile.
However, he bemoaned the fact that some of their clubs did not manage to attend the tournament because of financial problems and other factors. “Currently we do not have a sponsor but we are negotiating with some companies to sponsor us. Our discussions are positive and we believe we will be successful at the end of the day,” Tlouetsile added.