Eleven golds for Namibian boxers

On a recent trip to Botswana and Zimbabwe, an 11-man team of Namibian amateur boxers punched their way to 11 gold medals.
In the Botswana round of friendly bouts, the Namibians scooped five golds, a tally which was equalled by the host nation and the event was declared a draw.
The gold medallists for Namibia were Nicky Natangwe (64 kg), Jatoorora Tjingaveta (60 kg), Johson Mwetupunga (75 kg), Japhet Uutoni (48 kg) and Johannes Gabriel (57 kg).
In Zimbabwe the Namibians overpowered their opponents to walk away with six gold medals, compared to two for the locals.
Once again Nickey Natangwe, Jatoorora Tjingaveta and Johnson Mwetupunga were amongst the golds, accompanied this time by Sakaria Lucas (51 kg), Paulus Ambunda (54 kg) and Martin Haikali (60 kg).
On returning to Namibia, Ambrosius Kandjii, manager of the team, said that Namibian boxers were stuck in limbo with regards to participation at next year?s Commonwealth Games, in Australia, because of a lack of planning on the part of the National Olympic Committee.
Meanwhile, Joe Kaperu, Secretary General of the Namibia Boxing Federation (NBF), has announced that Namibia will host the Senior African Zone Six Boxing Championships in February of next year. He also said that the national championships are scheduled for mid December this year and will either take place in Windhoek or Karibib.
Kaperu also told Namibia Sport that the six boxers who have qualified for the Commonwealth Games and those who will take part in the Zone Six Championships are set to go into camp in early December until mid March next year.
However, Kaperu also expressed unhappiness at the level of financial support of boxing and called on sports controlling bodies to assist the NBF in properly preparing boxers for the Commonwealth Games.
"Preparation takes up a lot of money," he said. "The Sport Commission and Olympic Committee have to look into this."