The reduction in funding sees boxing being demoted to tier two, moving from tier one. Boxing has always been one of the National Sport Association (NSAs) that received more funding and positioned in tier one alongside athletics, football, cricket and volleyball.
Boxing is in the same tier with the Botswana Tertiary Student Sport Association (BOTESSA), table tennis, rugby, netball, softball, golf, swimming, chess, bowling, PASSOBO and karate.
BoBA president, Gilbert Khunwane expressed his disappointment to Sport Monitor, saying the cut was a major blow. He said boxing has received P290, 000 from P700,000 from the last financial year. “When we received P700, 000, we were dropping from around P1,000,000. We have already spent over P100,000 from the grant. We paid for the Annual General Meeting (AGM), two inter-club tournaments and visas for the team that travelled to India. So it means we are left with around P150, 000.
The challenge we are facing is that we do not understand the new funding model that the BNSC is using to allocate funding,” he said. Khunwane said they were planning to send a team to the Africa Boxing Championships that are set for Yaounde, Cameroon. The competition will be held from July 25 to August 6. He said due to lack of funds, the trip will be put on hold.
He said they should also send a team to Africa Olympic qualifiers in Senegal in September. He said unless the BNSC and the National Olympic Committee can decide to assist with funding for the team, it will be difficult to travel to either of the competitions. Meanwhile, Khunwane said they held a meeting with the BNSC chief executive officer (CEO), Tuelo Serufho where they requested for a boxing secretariat. “The meeting was in March, and the response we received was that BNSC was going through a restructuring process.
I guess the future is now uncertain for the secretariat after the decline in funding. The decision comes at a bad time when boxing is already battling with International Olympic Committee (IOC).
We have been nominated in six categories for Botswana Sports Awards, so we are wondering the reasons for the demotion,” he said. However, boxing hosted an inter-club tournament at Glen Valley BDF camp over the weekend. In 54kg bout, Rajab Otukile Mahommed (Mafika club) outboxed Thomologo Botshelo (Glen Valley club) and won the fight with a convincing score of 5-0.
Despite the defeat, Botshelo was not afraid to launch attacks. Mahommed dominated the bout from the first round showing off his skill on the ring. He told Sport Monitor after the match that he did not want to knock out his opponent early into the bout. “I could have ended the match in the first round but I decided to stretch it to the end. It was a practice for me for upcoming international championships. I should be able to withstand fatigue when I meet stronger opponents hence the need to fight until the end,” he said.
Another exhilarating bout was between Raokgwathile Kagoetsile (123 club) and Motlhaakgosi Onalethata of Francistown boxing club. The cunning Kagoetsile kicked off the first round with intention of a quick finish, sending Onalethata to the mat with a right jab. The energetic Kagoetsile continued with his dominance with quick blows into second round. However, Onalethata (20) did not back step as he threw some punches at his opponents. Kagoetsile claimed the bout with a score of 5-0. Speaking to Sport Monitor, Kagoetsile (24) said the game plan was to move around the ring, box and move again. “I was catching him with good punches in the right places. I was waiting for him to punch first then I counter attack. I joined the national team recently. I have fought outside the country and that experience is making me grow as a boxer,” Kagoetsile said.
