WINDHOEK – Local boxing enthusiasts can this coming weekend look forward to some thrilling action when the much anticipated Namibian Boxing Federation (NBF) two-nations amateur boxing tournament between Namibia and South Africa gets underway at the Windhoek Country Club on Saturday.
The Namibian team will mostly consist of members of the same team that participated in the African Boxing Confederation (ABC) Zone-4 Elite Boxing Championship held in Pretoria, South Africa recently, and will be under the guidance of Mistake Gariseb as head coach and Josua Veikko as his assistant.
The tournament is expected to be a crackerjack affair between the two neighbouring nations as South Africa hosted and won the recent African Boxing Confederation (ABC) Zone-4 Elite Boxing Championship, where Namibia only managed to finish in 2nd place. On that note, the home side will be out to settle some old scores and hopefully get one or two over the equally dangerous visitors.
The main objective of the two-nations competition is to prepare boxers for upcoming international competitions such as the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland during July 23 – August 3 this year and the much anticipated 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
After the conclusion of the two-nations tourney, the Namibian team will depart for Spain where they will wrap up their preparations for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games by attending a special joint training camp in Spain, organized by the NBF and the Spanish Boxing Federation (SBF).
The training camp starts around May 16, when Namibia and Spain will be joined by campaigners such as Russia and Cuba, amongst other big-timers.
By Otniel Hembapu