The long road to the London 2012 Olympics as well as the Botswana boxing sport immortality starts this Saturday when local pugilists slug it out in the year’s first tournament billed for the University of Botswana student union hall.
It will be grudge encounters and redemption as boxers seek to reverse setbacks of the past year while others will be seeking to show that the upsets they caused in the past season are no flukes.
“We saw a couple of upsets in the past season, more especially in the Best of the Best and the National Championships. There is unfinished business and many boxers will be out to prove a point and catch the eyes of the national selectors,” Botswana Boxing Association (BOBA) spokesperson, Willoughby Kemoen told Telegraph Sport.
The BOBA spokesperson says with the upcoming regional, continental and international competitions in mind, many boxers will go all out to get noticed.
“We have the Zone 4 competitions coming up in March in Namibia as well as the All Africa Games in Mozambique later this year. Throw in the upcoming boxing awards and you know these boxers have something to fight for,” Kemoen added.
In some of the most exciting bouts of the past year, many well established boxers were in for a rude awakening as they lost to their less fancied but upcoming boxers.
One of the boxers who will be seeking to prove a point this year will be Commonwealth bronze medallist Tirafalo Seoko who had a dismal showing after earning his Commonwealth medal.
Seoko lost at the National championships before losing yet again in the Best of the Best tournament to lesser known Alphious Farmer, something which left many in doubt of his national team credentials and his place is shaky.
Buoyed by his performance last year, Farmer will be a boxer to look out for as he will be seeking to add more accolades to his boxing resume. Other boxers seeking to impress and stake their claim to the national team this time around will be the upcoming teenage sensations Gofaone Rabokhokho, Oratile Kgalaeng and Thabang Motsewabeng.
The latter caused a major upset in the Best of the Best after he out boxed fan favourite Zibani Chikanda, earning himself accolade of the most promising young boxer in the process.
With the BOBA spokesperson saying places in the national team will still be open for any boxer showing potential, these young boxers, who were part of the all winning under 20 boxing team at the Supreme Council of Sport in Africa (SCSA) games will be seeking to go one more step and get into the national team. Kemoen further says he expects many boxers to grace the opening tournament of the BOBA calendar year as boxers are expected to have fought a certain percentage of competitions for them to be considered for National champions as well as the Best of the Best tournaments.
“This is the boxers’ platform to perform and reach for their dreams,” Kemoen told Telegraph Sport.
