South African Grabs Regional Boxing Crown

LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent | Monday June 17, 2013 00:00

 

They took the title from Botswana who finished second. Other countries that participated in the tournament are Namibia, Mozambique, Swaziland, Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe.For the first time in the history of the championships, there was a women category, won by Mozambique.Even though it was their first time to participate in the tournament, the women boxers gave an impressive account of themselves. In the men's event, the opening bout pitted Botswana's Lekgetho Mooketsi against Maquina Julio Gento of Mozambique in the light flyweight division.   Julio Gento won but all was not lost for the hosts. 

One of the most exciting fights was the bout between Botswana's Olympian Oteng Oteng and Angola's Vivaldo Rodrigues in the flyweight division.  The fully-packed Gaborone West Community Hall was roaring as Oteng bombarded his opponent with a barrage of blows in the first round. At some stage, Oteng nearly knocked out the Angolan as he sent him sprawling on the canvas.  Oteng's experience was just too much for his opponent and it was not a surprise that he was declared the winner at the end of the fight.

Ayabonga Sonjila of South Africa beat the daylights out of Obedy Mutapa of Zambia in the bantamweight division. Another local boxer, Kagiso Bagwasi once again raised the country's flag when he defeated Jeremiah Nakathila of Namibia in the light welterweight division.   Another champion of the light welterweight was Adilson Lamino Justino of Angola who triumphed over Swaziland's Sibonelo Ndzimandze.

Agusto Mathule of Mozambique walked away with the welterweight division title after defeating local pugilist Mmusie Tswiingie in a closely contested fight.The Namibians made their presence felt in the middle weight division where Mujungujae Kasuto eliminated Siphiwe Lusizi of South Africa.South Africa took the light heavy weight division when Luvuyo Sizani brushed aside his Mozambican opponent, Franciseo Daniel Massitela.The battle of the titans was the heavy weight division between hard-hitting Angolan Tumba Silva and Ruben Shilongo of Namibia.The bout set the hall alight as the Angolan pugilist took the fight to the Namibian.

Just before the end of the fight, Silva sent Shilongo to the canvas. But in a controversial decision that did not please the Angolans, the judges declared Shilongo the winner.The last fight in the super heavy weight division was between Paul William Schafer of South Africa and Nambia's Sirongo Kasera.The heavily built Schafer won the fight. Meanwhile, one of the Botswana national team coaches, Khumiso Ikgopoleng told The Monitor Sport that he was impressed with the performance of his charges.'I am happy about the performance of the team,' he said.The Botswana coach said his team was fit for the tournament.He said considering that they took three weeks in camp with a new team, the performance was outstanding.The coach said even the women boxers gave a good account of themselves even though this was their first international tournament. However, he was not impressed with the officiating, which he said was questionable.