Morake: The first fruit of women's boxing

THATO KALA
Correspondent | Friday March 16, 2012 00:00

Morake spent her school days reading a lot about martial arts and following the likes of former boxer, Thuso Khubamang. Three years ago she decided to take up boxing, in part because of her brother, Norman, who had a keen interest in the sport.'I read a lot about martial arts. I wasn't much into boxing until three years ago when I fell in love with it,' she tells Mmegi Sport.

'I thought I could do something with it.' Three years down the line, Morake sees herself as the beginning of women's boxing in the country'When it started there was not much - we didn't have women in the BDF (Botswana Defence Force) or football and everybody is now following. So this is just the beginning. I'm the beginning of women's boxing in the country,' she said, just after winning her bout against Keneilwe Rakhudu of SSKB. The Botho Boxing Club pugilist emerged the victor in the tightly contested inter-club boxing tournament bout last weekend. This was her second tournament fight after taking part in the preliminaries of the national championships last year where she failed to get an opponent in the final.

She said the memorable bout last Saturday was just what the women's game needed. Morake actually described it as her best ever bout.  'We just put a big picture out there that we are here and we can do this,' Morake said, 'if we continue like this we will go very far'.   She however, admitted that ladies' boxing will need a lot of support to make the necessary progress.The Botswana Boxing Association (BoBA) is keen to line up with the consideration the sport is getting internationally following its inclusion in this year's Olympic Games in London slated for July.For the first time, the ever-popular men's boxing events will run alongside their female counterparts on the Olympic programme. BoBA's publicity secretary, Willoughby Kemoen said their strategy is to get more women involved in the sport.

'AIBA (International Amateur Boxing Association) has enshrined them. We need to help them as well, and this is a new beginning,' said Kemoen.BoBA recently facilitated Morake's training with the senior national men's team that is preparing for the Olympic qualifiers billed for Morocco late next month.

The 24-year-old pugilist described her time in camp as beneficial and attributed her amasing endurance in the inter-clubs bout to it.   Ironically, the fourth year computer networking student at Botho College had to train under the watchful eye of a man who inspires her, national team coach, Khumiso Ikopoleng.She spoke glowingly about Ikgopoleng.

Ikgopoleng hoisted the Botswana flag at the opening ceremony of the Athens Games. He qualified for the Athens Games by winning a gold medal at the 2nd AIBA African 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Gaborone.In the final, he defeated South Africa's Ludumo Galada. He dropped down to the bantamweight division afterwards and qualified in this weight class for the 2008 Olympics. And Morake, who dreams of participating in international tournaments, draws inspiration from his exploits.  Apart from Ikgopoleng, the Glenn Valley Boxing Club product looks up to Martin Sekope, Modise Dithebe and Dirang Thipe, who is now BoBA's vice president, technical. She enjoys watching former Boxer of the Year award winner, Hebert Nkabiti, best known for winning junior welterweight silver at the 2007 All Africa Games, as well as Oteng Oteng, who has also previously won the Botswana Boxer of the Year award. The Matsilojie-born star, puts to flight arguments that people die in boxing.    'People have a wrong perception about boxing. They think people kill each other in the sport, but there's risk in every sport. You can play  football and sprain your ankle; karate and someone hit you on the cheek; cricket and the ball hits you on the head,' she argued.  She is convinced that accuracy and caution are key in the game. During her spare time, she reads novels, writes and listens to music. She is the only girl and the fourth-born in a family of five. She said: 'Until I had a little brother, I had so much attention.'Her favourite foods include fish, meat and 'lots of vegetables'.