Times Of Swaziland: WORLD CHAMPS SHOCKER: 2 ESWATINI BOXERS DISQUALIFIED

WORLD CHAMPS SHOCKER: 2 ESWATINI BOXERS DISQUALIFIED
================================================================================
Melusi Mkhabela on 03/05/2023 15:46:00


MBABANE – What was supposed to be a dream outing is turning out to be a
nightmare for Eswatini boxers.
The Eswatini Boxing National team is currently away at the International Boxing
Association (IBA) IBA World Championships that are running between May 1 and May
14, this year. This is the biggest stage in world boxing. The event is taking
place at Tashkent, Uzbekistan. On top of disturbing reports of allegedly missed
flights, two of Eswatini’s boxers could not compete due to missing their
weighing times.
According to the Eswatini Boxing Association (EBA) Secretary General (SG) Nathi
Dlamini, the boxers were not made aware of their weighing times. The affected
boxers are Zweli Dlamini (Under-57kg) and Chawe Gamedze (Under-60kg). This then
afforded their opponents to win by a walkover. This has really cost Eswatini, as
there are only two boxers left to hoist the country’s flag at the World
Championships. A walkover is awarded to the opposing boxer, if there are no
other boxers available, or they have been disqualified, because the other
contestants have forfeited or have withdrawn from the contest due to certain
ineligibility. It could not be immediately ascertained how the delegation missed
the weigh-in.
Meanwhile, Sibonelo ‘Mayweather’ Ndzimandze and Thabiso Dlamini had no
problems whatsoever in making it to the venue as well as the transportation they
needed to board to get to their destination. Thabiso, weighing in at 63.5kg, and
Ndzimandze (67kg) are the only two Eswatini Boxers left to represent the Kingdom
of Eswatini. Thabiso was expected to fight yesterday, while Sibonelo Ndzimandze
will fight tomorrow at a time yet to be confirmed.