21 May 2024

Three Botswana boxers are in Bangkok, Thailand for the second and last World Olympic qualifying tournament pencilled for May 25 to June 2. The trio, Phegie Bele (54kg), Kobamelo Malatlhegi (51kg) and George Molwantwa who will be in the 57 kg category, are part of the 500 boxers who will be seeking to secure space in the available 51 slots. Out of the 51 slots, 23 will be filled by women while the remaining slots were for men. Currently, 188 boxers from across the world have already qualified for the Paris 24 Olympic Games. Botswana Boxing Association, secretary general, Taolo Tloutsile said the technical team had worked very hard to prepare the team under challenging conditions. He said their challenge was mainly funds, adding that they could not even host Interclub tournaments due to funding challenges. “We hoped to attend an international training camp before the games. Unfortunately, they (Thailand) had limited spaces for visiting countries. Remember, in Accra and Durban we only had African countries,” he said. He noted that the international training camp would have provided them an opportunity to train with countries which were among the top ranked in the world. Tlouetsile said it was unfortunate that BOBA could not even afford to at least invite neighbouring countries for an international training camp. He, however, expressed confidence that from the African Games in Accra and the Nelson Mandela African Boxing Cup in Durban, South Africa, the team was now equipped with the know how of punching for the qualifying ticket. “If we had an international training camp or tournament after RSA, it would have been a plus for the technical team. Unfortunately we are here and we have to go and compete,” he said. Regarding the team composition, Tlouetsile said Molwantwa was the most experienced, and hoped that all the team members would do well and win a gold or silver for the country. Expectations are that boxers will outdo themselves and qualify for the Olympics. So far only athletics has qualified six athletes, Letsile Tebogo (100m, 200m and 400m), Leungo Scotch, Bayapo Ndori and Collen Kebinatshipi (400m) while Tshepiso Masalela and Kethobogile Haingura have qualified for 800m. ENDs