BoBA finally sends boxers to camp
Thato Kala | Wednesday April 2, 2014 10:56
Previously, BoBA had failed to assemble the teams due to lack of funds. BoBA president, Michael Moroka said they only managed to send the two teams to camp after they received their annual funding from government. The senior team that will campaign in the Zone VI Championships showed signs of rustiness last Saturday when they lost to Lesotho in an international friendly in Gaborone. “We could not send the team into camp and I agree they were rusty when they played Lesotho. We had a challenge with funding because the financial year only starts in April, so we had to wait,” Moroka told Mmegi Sport.
The seven-member team, short of Tirafalo Seoko, who stays outside Gaborone, was hastily assembled shortly before the Lesotho friendly.
Botswana fielded three rookies for the friendly and lost the first three bouts before the Bagwasi brothers, Kabelo and Kagiso stemmed the tide.
The Zone IV tournament kicks-off on April 15, meaning the team will have less than two weeks to get into shape before it leaves for Pretoria on Thursday next week. Despite getting into camp late, Moroka is confident his boxers will return home with medals.
The other team in camp will participate in the World Junior Boxing Championships in Bulgaria and the Africa Youth Games next month.
The World Junior Championships in Bulgaria runs from April 10-25 while the African Youth Games take place next month.
The Bulgaria tournament serves as the only qualifying event for the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games. Botswana will send five boxers to the tournament.