Boxers win three medal from Commonwealth Championship

FREDERICK KEBADIRETSE
Staff Writer | Friday March 19, 2010 00:00

Moabi Mothibe was the only boxer to reach the finals in the 69kg category where he lost to Fred Evans of Wales to settle for silver. The experienced pugilist did well to eliminate a Scottish opponent in the quarterfinals before crushing Nivesh Gyadin of Mauritius in the semis to book himself a place in the finals.

 This is by far his best achievement in international competitions after bowing out in the quarterfinals of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Sidney, Australia.

Meanwhile, Bathusi Mogajane (49kg) and Tirafalo Seoko (56kg) settled for bronze after being eliminated in the semis by opponents from Kenya and Sri-Lanka respectively. The other three boxers in the team, Oratile Segokgo (60kg), Gomotsang Gaasite (64kg) and Michael Rantsho (52kg) were all knocked out in the preliminary stages of the competition.

The event is held as a pre-tournament to the Commonwealth Games billed for the same venue in October this year.

 Botswana Boxing Association (BoBA) development officer, Healer Modiradilo said despite the low turnout by countries, the team did well and the boxers got a good preparation for the upcoming Commonwealth Games. He said they will keep training hard and to win medals in October. Thirteen nations participated in the just-ended championships. Botswana sent a team of six boxers. This was Botswana's third participation in the championships. The team is expected back home today.