SA gets bragging rights after Cup gold

SA Amateur Boxing Team continued to rule the roost at the newly launched Mandela Cup when it romped to a gold medal win last weekend.

The games were held in East London marking the second edition after they were inaugurated in Port Elizabeth in 2016.

Last year they took a hiatus due to the expanded programme of amateur boxing which included the launch of the national league.

While they are still at infantry stage, the games promise to be a permanent feature in the continental calendar with this year’s edition managing to attract visitors from abroad.

Consisting of five nations including the hosts, the games also featured a guest team from Germany province of Lower Saxony.

Other countries in the competition included Botswana, Mozambique and Swaziland although the latter sent only one boxer.

But that did not matter to the hosts as they easily won five gold medals, three silvers and a bronze to win a total of nine medals.

Botswana was a distant second with just four medals which included two gold and two silver medals.

Mozambique came third with three silver medals while the guest team from Germany won two.

While the tournament carried the format of a friendly, SA National Boxing Organisation (Sanabo) president Andile Mofu was happy by the overall competition of the teams.

“Like I said these kind of games are very crucial because they help the countries to test their new teams for 2020,” he said.

Indeed the hosts featured a team that was selected at the national elite championships in Secunda recently.