Gold in EC fists of fury

Boxing is not about to die out any time soon in the Eastern Cape.

This was confirmed following success of the provincial team at the national youth championships in Limpopo recently.

Defending the title it won last year in the provincial young boys and girls again romped home to an impressive win when they collected a whopping 14 gold medals.

Featuring boxers between ages of 15 and 16 years, the championships drew about 138 athletes from all nine provinces.

About 103 boxers – girls and boys – at the junior level and 80 at the youth level fought it out for five days.

But it was the Eastern Cape Boxing Team (ECBT) that eventually ruled the roost at the tournament when it won 30 medals overall.

However it was eclipsed by KwaZulu-Natal on the total medals table.

But KZN fell short in the number of gold medals as it

The win is a result of healthy working relations in the Ecabo structure

won only 12.

EC Amateur Boxing Organisation (Ecabo) president Vido Mtekwana hailed the success of the team saying it entrenched the province as the Mecca of boxing.

“The win is a result of healthy working relations in the Ecabo structure,” he said.

“We are so glad that our programmes are bearing fruit. Before these youngsters achieve this a lot of work has been done behind the scenes.”

SA National Amateur Orgnisation (Sanabo) president Andile Mofu described the championships as a perfect breeding ground for talent which will go a long way to improving the chances of qualifying for the Olympic Games in 2020.

“These championships are helping us to form the nucleus of the team to the Olympic qualifiers,” he said.

The emergence of KZN as a strong boxing province has seen Gauteng dislodged as the rival of the Eastern Cape.

Again Gauteng only came third in the championships with eight gold medals and an overall 13 medals.