Kenosi, Otukile take lessons from Olympic punches
Olympic Games debutants, Keamogetse Sadie Kenosi and Mohammed Rajab Otukile might have suffered early exits, but will emerge from Tokyo with valuable lessons, boxing experts say. Kenosi was the first to kiss her dreams of progressing goodbye after losing 5-0 to Great Britain boxer, Karriss Artingstall.
Otukile faced the same fate when he went down 5-0 to Columbian boxer, Martinez Rivas Yuberjen Herney, a silver medallist from the Rio 2016 Olympics. Speaking to Mmegi Sport, UB Tsholofelo coach, France Mabiletsa said Kenosi had acquitted herself well.
“As for Kenosi, she played well and I was impressed by her performance. I believe she has the capacity to do better but she is let down by her attitude in training. All the camp and weight issues with her coach let her down,” he said.
Mabiletsa said Kenosi marched her more experienced opponent from Great Britain but could not rise above her performance. He said that was due to Kenosi making the weight in the last week of the tournament after struggling for over a year.
Mabiletsa said that it meant she had to focus more on the weight than on bettering her performance. “In boxing, that is seen as a lack of discipline. Next year it is the Commonwealth Games, we expect her to come out a better boxer.
These boxers had a lot of exposure in tournaments and training camps. They have been given fair exposure,” Mabiletsa said. He said Zambia came to Botswana for training and won some bouts at the Olympics. He said local boxers travelled more than Zambians. However, Mabiletsa said there is always room for improvement. DTCB coach, Thebe Setlalekgosi said the team did not get enough preparation. “We cannot point fingers at anybody because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It affected most African countries. You can realise that it was not only Botswana that had a bad competition, most African countries performed badly because we do not have resources,” he said. Setlalekgosi said the beginning of 2020 all sporting activities were suspended and it has been a long time since inter-club competitions were held.
He said that meant the preparations were affected. He said in Europe the population is high and boxers are many. “Let me give you an example, Kenosi did not have a sparring partner. The only person who could have assisted her was Aratwa Kasemang but she was off action due to injury.
It was difficult to prepare for the Olympics without a sparring partner. They only had two international training camps, which was not enough,” Setlalekgosi said. He said the sport has a limited budget and COVID-19 made things worse.
He said that is why the boxers did not perform according to expectations. He also added local boxers faced quality opponents at the Olympics.
Meanwhile, Setlalekgosi said the weight issue was also a big factor for Kenosi. He said if funding was not an issue, the two boxers could have been sent for training overseas in January.