It’s Morocco or bust for SA’s young dynamos

A STRONG team of six boxers will depart for Morocco tomorrow to compete at the Youth Olympic Qualifiers.

The games will serve as a qualifying tournament for the Youth Olympic Games to be held in Buenos Aires in October.

The games will also afford the winners participation at the Youth World Championships in August.

Boxers between the ages of 17 and 18 both in males and female categories will vie to book their places in Argentina when the games punch off on Monday. The boxers will battle in 10 weight classes with SA confident of producing winners to represent the country in Buenos Aires.

SA National Boxing Organisation (Sanabo) president Andile Mofu said the team would carry the aspirations of the country to ensure that it is represented in Argentina.

“We are very confident that the team representing us in Casablanca will do well,” he said.

The team consists of three boxers from each category with the Eastern Cape represented by two boxers, Ndilho Nyebe and Vuyolwethu Dila in both categories.

The province has also contributed in the technical team as Khangelani Jack will be one of two coaches together with Nkosinathi Thusi from KwaZulu-Natal. The country has not been doing well in major international championships as it even failed to send a representative at Rio Olympics two years ago.

“These youngsters we have selected will also likely form the nucleus of the Olympic Team to Tokyo in 2020.

“But they have to be ready as early as now by proving their worth in these games,” said Mofu.

With the boxing scene beset by rampant doping, organisers have tightened measures to catch the offenders with testing expected to be conducted throughout the tournament. —