02 Sep 2015

The four medals brought by the national boxing team from the just ended Africa Championships in Morocco is a clear indication that their never say die attitude paid dividends. The team’s assistant coach, Emmanuel Galeboe said the level of competition was high. The team arrived on Tuesday with a silver medal and three bronze medals.

 “We were competing against the best boxers from 19 African teams which participated in this tournament, and bringing home four medals is a great achievement. Our players showed brilliance in most aspects of their game.They were good both technically and physically,” Galeboe said.

 He said the team used the tournament as preparations for the All Africa Games in Brazzaville, Congo.

 “The only challenge we had was their tactical awareness and that is one aspect we will be focusing on before flying to Congo,” he said.

 The coach said Mmusi Tswiigi’s elimination at the preliminary stage of the competition by Moroccan boxer, Rabii Muhammed was difficult to believe.

 “Tswiigi is a brilliant boxer and the fact that he was also the first player to compete from our camp meant that we pinned our hopes on him to pave the way. 

His loss came unexpectedly and we needed courage to recover. I must confess that when I saw that my players were not demoralised, I thanked God,” he added.

 Zibani Chikanda, who won a silver medal in the 75kg category, defeated his opponent Mayk Miyenikoq from Gabon in the preliminary stages and went all the way to the final where he lost to Abdin Hossam Hussein Bakr of Egypt.

 “I am very much overwhelmed about this personal achievement as it shows that I am growing as a player. It is very interesting because I have just returned to the national team. 

I think it can be best if we can have more friendlies every time before competitions of this magnitude. I believe that the friendlies can do our team a great good,” Chikanda said.

 Tefo Rammupudu (49kg), Kagiso Bagwasi (64kg) and Thabang Motsewabeng (81kg) are the three boxers who brought bronze medals. Bagwasi will join Zibani Chikanda for the World Championship that is scheduled for Doha, Qatar, as they are the only two players who qualified.

 The publicity and information secretary of BoBA, Kenny Maragana praised the team and noted that the achievement was a clear indication that the team was heading in the right direction. Ends