09 Nov 2016

All eyes will be in the much anticipated and undoubtedly explosive welter weight bout between Lentswe Zwinila and Mmusi Tswiige in the semifinals of the Botswana Boxing Association's national championships.

After a tricky encounter with Keoagile Rantutu in the recent interclub tournament in Mogoditshane where he fought to a bitter end, the hard punching Tswiige is well aware of what lies ahead of him in the coming weekend’s semifinal bout against the resurgent Zwinila.

The latter is in fine form after thumping a hapless Kethabile Machola in the preliminaries on Saturday (November 5).

The referee stopped contest in the second round as Zwinila came charging for a technical knockout.

However, the one sided fight against Rantutu in the past match cannot be used to judge Tswiige's performance coming into the weekend's clash with Zwinila.

The winner between the two will book a ticket to square up against either Gofaone Rabokhokho or Khumalo Chabulula who will tussle in another 69kg semifinal.

In another mouthwatering match lined up for the final spot of the under 75kg category is a clash of the titans between Zibani Chikanda and Rantutu.

The two boxers, army officers by profession based in Selibe Phikwe and Mogoditshane respectively will square off in a clash that is likely to attract a sizeable crowd to the ringside.

On paper the 2016 Botswana National Sport Commission Sportsperson of the year, Chikanda remains a favorite to clinch the title but Rantutu's never-say-never attitude might come in handy. Chikanda recently endured a long layoff owing to an eye injury he picked in a physically taxing bout against Tswiige. Whether he is fit for the challenge to be posed by the well-built Rantutu remains a mystery.

Some of the interesting semifinal clashes lined up for the weekend is the light weight clash between Kabelo Bagwasi and Kefentse Molalapata.

The winner here will lie in wait for either Basha Motlhane or Onkarabile Mothibedi. In the light fly weight division Omogolo Botsheleng has set an appointment with Bakang

Rakhudu while in the women's 69kg division Keneilwe Rakhudu will come face to face with Nametsang Makaba.

After Saturday and Sunday's preliminary rounds DTCB still tops the rankings by team victories and points per boxer on six points.

They are followed by Prisons while UB, EMG, GVBC, Mafika, Maun, SSKB and Thebephatshwa club close the top 8 bracket of a tight contest of 15 teams. Ends