Boxing club targets 2020 Olympics

Naledi Lemogang | Tuesday August 29, 2017 16:53

The club continues to perform extremely well in local and regional tournaments.

Only one boxer from Dscud lost a bout out of the club’s eight representatives who took part in the Botswana Boxing Association (BoBA) interclub competition over the weekend.

Dscud director, Thuso Khubamang said their mandate is to have some of their boxers represent Botswana at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

He said the club is also assisting in developing boxing in the country and also to raise awareness of the sport with a view to attracting potential sponsors.

“We dominated the fight over BoBA’s best of eight boxers. Our boxers are always in good shape compared to their opponents. That is why we always organise tournaments and challenges to keep them active,” Khubamang said. He said the reason why they challenged BoBA is that they also want to assist the association in its development.

“The weekend tournament went well. Our boxers did a very great job in building their profiles and giving BoBA boxers test matches, the likes of Steven Bagwasi who went home with a trophy of best boxer and best bout,” he added.

Khubamang said they recently participated in a boxing tournament organised by Booysen Boxing Club in South Africa and five out of their seven boxers won their bouts.

He said the South African side was happy with the quality of boxing displayed by their boxers. He added that they recently organised the tournament with boxers from South Africa and the performance was pleasing.

“For our boxers to qualify for the 2020 Olympics, they need to have participated in major tournaments in Africa. That is why for most of our tournaments we invite boxers from other countries,” Khubamang said.

Meanwhile, BoBA spokesperson, Taolo Tlouetsile said the tournament held at Ditshupo Hall, attracted a big crowd. He said their aim is to take boxing to the people and sponsors, particularly that they are still struggling to get sponsors on board. “The tournament went well as it attracted a good crowd and more boxers hence the level of the competition was very impressive.”

The purpose of hosting it at Fairgrounds during the Consumer Fair was to take boxing to the people and also attract potential sponsors, he added.

He said the tournament was unique because there were trophies awarded to the best boxers from BoBA clubs and Dscud.