05 May 2021

National boxing team’s performance was affected by the ring rusty in the just ended 58th Open Tournament Winners Cup in Belgrade.

Botswana was represented by  Mohamad Rajab (52kg), George Molwantwa (57kg)  and Keamogetse Kenosi (57kg).

Rajab lost 2-3 to England’s Yafai Galai in men’s elite. Molwantwa won 5-0 against France’s Melkumian Benik.

Molwantwa then lost 0-5 against Bulgaria’s Asenov Danijel.

Speaking during an interview, coach Master Luza said the boxers had shown signs of ring rusty that usually occurred when boxers spent a long time without major tournaments.

The coach said competition was vital for boxers when preparing for major competitions such as Tokyo 2020, adding that due to COVID-19, Botswana started preparations late.

He said boxers performed well, despite losing, adding that this was their first major competition this year saying.

Master Luza noted that many countries participated  in almost all the categories while Botswana participated in minimal categories, a decision, which was fueled by lack of match testing.

He further said the tournament was of high standard saying 38 countries were represented, noting that boxers were of high rankings in the world.

He said one of the toughest opponents was Europe stating they were the power house in boxing.

Luza said they had realised that they needed an invitations to compete since most boxers had shown lack of fitness in the ring.

In that sense, he said they were working hard to make sure that boxers attended international invitations to get prepared for Tokyo 2020 slated for July 2021.

Luza said they were expecting to honour Kazakhstan in the next two weeks to keep on assessing boxer’s readiness and fitness to compete in the upcoming Olympics.

For his part, Rajab said they appreciated the efforts made by Botswana National Olympics Committee in sourcing out invitations to prepare for the Olympics. He noted that after the just-ended tournament, they had learnt that the more than a year break due to COVID-19 had affected their strength saying they had a lot to do to maintain and increase fitness levels.

Mahommand said there was still more time to recover from setbacks if they availed themselves for international invitations across the world.

Mohammad said it was not easy to maintain fitness by training alone noting that match test was vital for the competitions.ENDS