SA’s top fighters left high and dry for Rio Games

BACKING OFF: Siphiwe Lusizi ducks away from Xayo’s right in their bout
BACKING OFF: Siphiwe Lusizi ducks away from Xayo’s right in their bout
By MESULI ZIFO

The raging controversy over the permission of the professional boxers to compete at the Olympics in Rio is gradually losing steam after almost all federations failed to send athletes to the qualifying tournament currently under way in Vargas, Venezuela.

Among the federations that did not send professional boxers to the event that started on Sunday and runs until Friday is SA National Amateur Boxing Organisation (Sanabo), effectively ruling out any chances of national boxers to represent the country in Rio next month.

Sanabo is still smarting from the failure of seven of its boxers to qualify for the Olympics in Baku, Azerbaijan a fortnight ago.

The boxers included gold medallist Sikho Nqothole at the Cameroon championships as well as Sibusiso Bandla, who won bronze at the same event.

While the achievements were good enough to qualify them for Rio, Sascoc downgraded the qualification in line with the criteria that Olympic qualification should be achieved in Europe and not through the African conti-nent.

After Bandla from Mdantsane went as far as the quarterfinals in Baku before he was eliminated there were hopes that Sanabo could still save face if its professional boxers could secure a berth in the Venezuela championships.

Sanabo president Andile Mofu said after preliminary discussions with Sascoc and Boxing SA no decision could be reached to send professional boxers to Venezuela.

“One of the reasons was that there was virtually no time to prepare for this especially as the decision to allow professional boxers to compete at the Olympics was only taken in June,” said Mofu.

Indeed Amateur International Boxing Asso-ciation (Aiba) opened the way for professional boxers to compete against their amateur peers after repealing Article 13 of its statute in an extraordinary meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland on June 1 this year.

With only 26 quota places opened for professional boxers in Rio over seven divisions some federations could not shift amateur boxers already qualified in specific divisions in favour of professional fighters.

The few professional boxers who are currently competing in Venezuela have all been compelled to fight out of their natural weights.

SA was hoping to coerce credible boxers such as Zolani Tete, Hekkie Budler and others to compete in Venezuela.

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