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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
BULAWAYO Amateur Boxing Association (Baba) will hold a provincial tournament at Sizinda South Beer Garden on Saturday to select a team to represent Bulawayo at the Zimbabwe National Youth Games in August.
The rebranded Zimbabwe National Youth Games are set for Midlands and Baba has invited Matabeleland South and Matabeleland North provinces for its final qualifying event.
Stephen Masiyambumbi, the country’s amateur boxing technical director, who is also a member of Baba’s executive committee, said all the province’s eight teams are expected to send boxers to the selection event.
Clubs affiliated to Baba are Nketa, Sikhulile, Lobengula, Magwegwe, Bulawayo District, HQ 1 Brigade, Nkulumane and Tshaka.
“We are looking at taking 40 boxers to Gweru for the Zimbabwe National Youth Games and we will be using the Saturday tournament to finalise our selection of the team. We’ve identified boxers through tournaments we have held since the beginning of the year and this weekend’s tournament is to have the final assessment. Matabeleland South and Matabeleland North have also confirmed that they will be sending their youth games teams as part of rounding up their preparations,” said Masiyambumbi.
Bulawayo finished third in boxing in last year’s games hosted by Matabeleland North.
Among the boxers identified by Bulawayo for the August games are the Sikhulile duo of Adneta Mabeza and Ndabezinhle Dube, who will lead the Under-18 team, and Zibusiso Nyoni as well as Prince Mutonga for the elite (Under-23) category. Mutonga and Nyoni belong to Nketa.
“This time around our chances as Bulawayo look bright because our boxers have been competing in and outside Bulawayo. They have been active since the beginning of the year and have gained lots of experience going into the youth games,” said Masiyambumbi.
@ZililoR
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