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BOXER MANGALISO LOSES REGION 5 MATCH

07/12/2021 08:39:00 BY PHOLSILE HLOPHE

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MBABANE – Local pugilist, Veliswa Magaya is the first athlete in Team Eswatini to guarantee the country a medal.

Her opponent from Botswana was disqualified after failing the weigh in. Magaya was supposed to fight in the flyweight division, which is between 48 to 50kg. She has now qualified for the finals and will face either a South African opponent or Zambian. An elated WESRC media officer, Dumisani Ntiwane said the country is now guaranteed one medal. “We are looking forward to seeing her play in the final and bring home the gold medal,” Ntiwane said.

Meanwhile, local boxer Mangaliso Dlamini suffered a unanimous point’s loss to Angola’s Condile Luwemba on Sunday evening. This was Eswatini’s first boxing competition and the junior golfers in the blue corner managed to complete all three rounds of three minutes but the three judges opted in favour of the opponent. He got a bronze medal. Dlamini, who is in the 57-60kg category is among the three local boxers in the Region Five Youth Games currently being staged in Lesotho, as well as Bafo Dlamini in the 54-57kg weight category and the only female boxer Veliswa Magaya 47-50kg.

fight

According to boxing coach Maxwell Ngwenya, the junior boxer put up a good fight despite losing by points. Ngwenya commended him for managing to complete all his rounds considering that in past events, Eswatini boxers have in the past exited the competition in the knockout stages. “So far his performance is one of the best performances for Eswatini. Bafo Dlala hasn’t played yet because he was on standby during the draw. We expect him to play tomorrow (today),” said Ngwenya.

Ngwenya said their ambition was to bring home gold and silver medals. Professional boxer Sibonelo Ndzimandze also complemented Dlamini after his match, saying completing his rounds was an achievement on its own considering the lay-off on the sport among other combat sports for nearly two years due to COVID-19. “The fact that he fought up to the end is an achievement on its own regardless of the fact that there was no boxing in the country for more than two years,” said Ndzimandze.