Female boxers make for exciting tourney

T en female boxers from boxing clubs around the country and the African continent captivated boxing enthusiasts with an exciting display of skills and techniques at the first Power to Women Boxing night tournament in Limpopo held on Friday evening.
The Ngaoko Ramatlhodi Sport Complex was the scene of matches to determine the winners of the junior featherweight, junior welterweight, welterweight, flyweight and lightweight titles.
Gauteng’s Simangele Hadebe defeated Natalia Banni from Uganda by technical knockout (TKO) in the fourth round to win the junior featherweight title.
Bonita van Jaarsveld from Gauteng displayed good offensive and defensive boxing skills to defeat Bongani Vukeya from Vhembe by majority division over six rounds to claim the junior welterweight title.
Rollen Muleba from Vhembe won the welterweight title against Skhathele Ngwenya from Zimbabwe in a unanimous decision.
The event also saw Nosipho Bell from Eastern Cape defending her South African Junior Lightweight title against Ryder Muleba from Vhembe by TKO in the eighth round of the fight.
Sport, Arts and Culture MEC Onicca Moloi congratulated the athletes and said the female boxers have shown that women can excel in every sporting code and she also called for the participation of more women in boxing. “We are proud to have hosted the event. Our aim is to revive this popular combat sport, promote it and develop it. We are confident that tournaments like this will encourage young people, particularly girls and young women to participate in this sport,” Moloi said.
She said participation of boxers from other African countries augers well with the department’s efforts to establish regional integration through sport.
“It was important to include female boxers from Uganda and Zimbabwe in the tourney because the province share borders with Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe and we are strategically located as the gateway into the Southern African Development Community region and the rest of the African continent,” Moloi said.
Muditambi Ravele, Chairperson of Boxing South Africa and Mapula Mokaba-Phukwana, MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development were among the dignitaries in attendance.

Story and photos: Herbert Rachuene
>>herbert.observer@gmail.com