Former boxer sponsors BISA tourney
Lebogang Baingapi | Thursday July 6, 2017 15:01
The sponsorship is in the form of trophies, certificates and other expenses, all to the value of P5,000 in each tournament.
Batshegi’s sponsorship applies when only Jwaneng hosts the BISA boxing tournaments.
The sponsorship came into effect over the weekend at the south zonal elimination competition. Batshegi, a retired boxer, is now focusing on developing young boxers at Jwaneng’s four primary and two junior schools. He said with the support of Jwaneng Town Council, District Commissioner’s office and local companies, he has been able to mentor and develop boxers. “We recently hosted coaches and judges’ camp workshop in Moshupa and I will also like to acknowledge my co-workers Daniel Mookodi as we work together to develop young boxers in Jwaneng. I am privileged to have been chosen again to mentor at the Botswana Under-20 team training camp,” Batshegi said.
He encouraged young boxers to do regular training to improve their skills. He, however noted that, though sports can also put food on the table, students should balance their studies with sports and learn from the best. Meanwhile, at the weekend competition, Khisa Molebeledi from Tsabong Unified School finished as the best boxer under the cadet category. Ipelegeng Junior School’s Phemelo Mohammed emerged as the best in the junior section while Raymond Gofenyang from Lobatse Senior and Matsha College’s Zulu Ontefetse were the best in the youth and elite categories respectively.
In the girls’ category, Golebaone Mogaga from Motaung grabbed the best boxer award in the junior category, which also earned her space in the national team. Seepapitso Senior’s Raselebogo Atang emerged the best in the youth category while Kutlwano Sekhutlo from Lobatse Secondary Schools was awarded the best boxer under the elite category.
The coordinator of South Zone competitions, Othusitse Mogotsakgotla said the elimination round, which brought together 16 schools, had disappointingly failed to raise the standard on Saturday. He however said after talking to the coaches, the performance improved on Sunday. Mogotsakgotla further said the selected team will represent the region at the national competition and they intend to go into camp. “Skill-wise, boxers from Kgalagadi were much better than others and we also have a task to build the female team. We are grateful to Thato Batshegi for the sponsorship and we hope it will motivate our boxers to do more. We will also look for more sponsors to improve our games,” Batshegi said.