Nations’ fists of fury to do it for Madiba

WITH struggle icon Nelson Mandela often associated with boxing more than any sport, a boxing tournament involving countries from the continent will be held in his honour at Nelson Mandela Museum in Mthatha tomorrow.

At least three countries from the Southern African region, Lesotho and Botswana have confirmed to join South Africa in the event marked to form part of Mandela centenary celebrations.

“We felt that it would be ideal to organise this mini tournament with our neighbours to harness our relationship and also help each other in getting activity,” SA National Boxing Organisation (Sanabo) president Andile Mofu said.

While Lesotho and Botswana are not really known as boxing nations in the professional ranks, they are formidable at the amateur class now called open boxing.

Mofu, who also oversees open boxing in the Region 5, is keen to keep its athletes activity to enhance their competition in major championship events.

Having already contributed two boxers to the SA Commonwealth Games Team to Australia, he feels Siyabulela Mpongoshe and Sinethemba Blom should have been joined by more boxers in the team. “We’re happy with their inclusion but taking into consideration the talent we have in this country, we should have more boxers in the SA Team,” he said.

Mpongoshe and Blom will depart for Ukraine where they will spend two weeks preparing for the games starting on April 4 to 15 on the Gold Coast Down Under.

On their return from Australia, Mpongoshe and Blom will join 11 more boxers to represent the country at the Zone 4 championships in Mozambique from 20 to 25th this month.

The team will consist of 10 male boxers and three females with Port Elizabeth’s Bongiwe Colani favoured to contribute to the expected medal haul.

Mofu said the Zone 4 champions would gauge the progress of the SA Team as 10 more countries will be vying for medals.

“These championships always produce fireworks and we expect nothing less this time around,” he said.