…strong local team in Pretoria
WINDHOEK – With a pressing schedule to wrap up preparations for this year’s Commonwealth Games slated for July 23 – August 03 in Glasgow, Scotland and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Namibia Boxing Federation (NBF) have their foot on the gas pedal and promise to have their boxers ready for those vital competitions.
As part of their preparations for the said international competitions, the NBF yesterday announced a 10-member team to represent Namibia at the African Boxing Confederation (ABC) Zone-4 Elite Boxing Championship, starting today in Pretoria, South Africa. The ten boxers, who are all national champions in their respective divisions, were selected during the Telecom Namibia National Elite Boxing Championship in Rundu last year December and also at the national trials held in Walvis Bay in March this year.
Besides hosts and defending champions South Africa, other participating countries at this year’s championship are Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Angola, Mozambique, Mauritius and Seychelles. Team mentors Mistake Gariseb and Josua Veikko expressed concern with the build-up to the team’s preparations for the championship, saying they were only given about two weeks to prepare for the big competition and said it almost clashed with their duties as coaches. But despite the circumstances, the two maintain that the fighters are ready and confident to do their country proud and promised to return home with positive results.
As sponsors, Telecom Namibia’s head of Corporate Communications and Public Relations, Oiva Angula, urged the boxers to remain dedicated and work hard in order to return home with good results, saying a victory is often the only thing that pleases a sponsor after so many years of consistent investment. Meanwhile, Janine van Wyk has been selected as one of the tournament supervisors, a move she explained as positive and most welcome for aspiring Namibian female boxing administrators.
By Otniel Hembapu