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MBABANE – Eswatini Boxing Association (EBA) President Webster Lukhele is happy about how local boxer Veliswa Magaya fought.

This was against the experienced South African Boxer Thandolwethu Mathaba.

Magaya (18) was representing the country in the ongoing Women’s World Championships staged in India and had to face the 25-year-old Mathaba who was representing South Africa for the second time in the championships.

Lukhele said given Mathaba’s ample experience in national and international tournaments the local boxer fought well.

“Veliswa fought very well, the fight was two sided and it did not show that her opponent carried more experience,” Lukhele said. He said Magaya had been exposed to facilities outside the country in order for her training to be up to par.

She has trained in Mozambique as well as in South Africa to gain the necessary experience. The president emphasised on boxer’s age, her being young enough to know that she had a bright future ahead of her, as she did very well against an experienced boxer.

Happy

“What makes me extremely happy about Veliswa is that she is only 18 years old, she has an impeccable future ahead of her, as well as ample room for her to improve. As a country we are extremely pleased with the progress she is making, it will inspire other women to join the sport, as well as understand how lucrative the sport is,” he said.

Lukhele also said they wanted to continue exposing her to international competitions as much as possible for her to continue paving the way for more female boxers duplicating her footsteps.

“My next initiative is to introduce boxing in schools, currently I’m busy on the budget and I’m open for assistance. Within the schools, we will be able to start boxing at a young age and they will grow familiar with the sport,” he said.

Prolific

Day four of the IBA Women’s World Championships saw the country’s prolific boxer Magaya in the red corner facing the South African boxer, Mathaba in the blue corner, in a three-round fight that lasted three minutes each.

In charge of the match was Algerian Referee, Besmi Mohammed, who started the three rounds at 6pm.

The local boxer fell short to her opponent, who landed more of meaningful blows.

Punch

The Eswatini boxer did not take any punch laying back, she managed a few combinations that staggered her opponent but was not enough for her to win.

The five judges all scored in favour of Mathaba. Judge One from India scored the fight 23:30, judge number two from KGZ scored the fight 25:30, judge three from Egypt scored the fight 24:30, judge four from Korea also scored the fight 25:30 and judge five from Serbia scored the fight 23:30.

The fight ended with a decision score of 0:5 in favour of the South African boxer.