Delight as Duncan Village boxers pass dope tests
The handlers of world-acclaimed Duncan Village boxers breathed a collective sigh of relief when they passed dope tests by international agents recently.
SA junior-bantamweight champion and world-rated Phumelela Cafu and his homeboy Azinga Fuzile were surprised by Voluntary Anti Doping Association (Vada) officials conducting random testing in line with the World Boxing Council clean boxing programme.
The officials ran a series of tests which serve as prerequisite for ratings in the Mexicobased world sanctioning body, though the tests are used as a deterrent by other bodies and the World Anti Doping Agency.
Fuzile, who is a former world title challenger, is on a quest to re-climb the world boxing ladder while Cafu commands lofty spots in all four major sanctioning bodies.
However his rating is subject to him passing the dope tests to escalate his title aspirations.
Vada president Margaret Goodman said the specimens collected from the two boxers had returned negative findings.
“This letter is to advise that one or more specimens collected from Cafu have been analysed for performance-enhancing drugs through the clean boxing programme administered by Vada,” she said.
Goodman issued a similarlyworded letter for Fuzile, saying his results had also come back negative.
Fuzile’s manager, Mla Tengimfene, said he was overjoyed about the results as they would help him to plot the lefthanded boxer’s return to the world stage.
Tengimfene’s other boxer, Zolani Tete, is serving a fouryear ban for failing a dope test.