African Games in Accra: ESWATINI’S SET TO REPRESENT TWO BOXERS
🇬🇭 Countdown to the African Games in Accra, Ghana, March 8-23
ESWATINI’S TWO BOXERS NAMED
▫️ _The Southern African country is eyeing first medal in African Games_
Eswatini will be represented by two boxers in next month’s African Games in Accra, Ghana.
The Secretary-General of Eswatini Boxing Association (EBA) Nathi Dlamini said owing to
financial hiccups, the tiny landlocked Southern African country will enter a skeleton team of only two boxers.
Renowned light-welterweight Thabiso Dlamini, the face of Eswatini boxing, and 20-year-old lightweight Sibongiseni Shongwe, are the two boxers who’ll carry the hopes of the country’s estimated population of 1.2 million people.
While the experienced Thabiso (pictured right competing at the 2022 Commonwealth Games) is no stranger to big-time boxing, Shongwe will be making his international debut in Accra after showing his potential in local tournaments
“Shongwe’s skill and passion gives us a lot of hope as a country,” says Nathi.
“He won his first national youth title at 17 years, and in January this year came out tops in a tournament we organised to see the champions competing against each other.
“Last year Shongwe competed against local elite boxers and won a silver medal.”
Thabiso is currently Eswatini’s most experienced boxer having made his international debut in the 2010 Zone 5 Youth Games, winning gold in the lightweight division.
The three-time Commonwealth Games participant started boxing in 2004 at Simunye Boxing Club in Lubombo Region under coach Sifiso Ngwenya, and then moved to Matsapha Boxing Club where his boxing education was further enhanced by coach Fanana Tyson Dlamini.
Thabiso has also undergone one-year training stint in Moscow sponsored by the International Boxing Association (IBA) President Umar Kremlev, a deal brokered by a former EBA President Pearl Dlamini and signed between Russia Boxing Federation and Eswatini Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (EOCGA).
He made his debut in the world championships last year in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.Thabiso is under no illusion on the daunting task facing him to win Eswatini’s first ever medal in the African Games in Accra.
Inspired by Simanga Shiba, one of the country’s two medallists in the Commonwealth Games, Thabiso says he’s equal to the task.
“There’s nothing impossible, I’m following in the footsteps of Shiba,” Thabiso told AFBC Communications in a telephone interview.
Shiba won a bronze medal in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in the light-flyweight division.
Eswatini’s first medal at a big international event came via Leonard Makhanya who won a bronze in the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane in the light-flyweight class and added a silver in the 1986 Commonwealth Games at flyweight.
“When Shiba watched me in action as a junior boxer he was very impressed and told me I would go places, I believed in him,” recalls Thabiso who leaves on February 27 to participate in the Olympic qualifiers in Italy from February 29 after which he will connect a flight from Italy to Accra for the African Games.
Thabiso was in high spirits during last year’s Africa Championships in Yaounde aiming for a podium finish after failing to win a medal in the 2022 Africa Championships in Maputo.
He however walked out of the ring disappointed when Mali’s Babari Diallo hit him with a rabbit punch that disoriented him forcing the referee to stop the light-welterweight bout in the first round.
“Infact I wanted to file a protest immediately, I was very disappointed by my opponent hitting me at the back of my head, and he knows it’s a foul punch,” recalls Thabiso
Anyway, all that is now water under the bridge. Thabiso, the first boxer from his country to take part in the Olympic Games in 2020 in Tokyo, is focused on the Olympic qualifiers in Italy and the African Games in Accra.
EBA’s Secretary-General Nathi is optimistic they’ll eventually win their first medal in the African Games in Accra, an achievement which will no doubt delight Eswatini’s monarchy leader, King Mswati lll.
Mswati’s government has supported the country’s boxers and sports in general. This was evidenced when Thabiso was rewarded for winning gold in the 2010 Region Five Youth Games.
At the 2022 Zone 4 Championships in Maputo, Eswatini finished sixth overall with two silvers and four bronze medals. Thabiso, a silver medallist in the 2018 Zone 4 Championships, was one of the four bronze medal winners, others being Sifiso Ngwenya, Sabelo Lukhele and Mancoba Dlamini while the two silvers came from flyweight Zweli Dlamini and Princess Dlamini, one of the country’s two notable female achievers with Veliswa Magaya who won silver in the Region 5 Games in 2020.
Eswatini was formerly known as Swaziland but in 2018 King Mswati lll renamed the country Eswatini which means land of the Swazis. King Mswati lll, one of the world’s most prominent polygamists with 15 wives and about 36 children, felt Swaziland was more of a European name and often confused with Switzerland.
✍🏼 AFBC Communications