South African boxing’s Olympic drought is set to continue after the country’s amateur body confirmed that it will not send fighters to the last qualifying championships in Thailand.
The failure will mark the twelfth year South Africa has not been represented at the Olympics, where boxing was once one of the codes bringing medals to the country.
The news came just as the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) announced the South African team to represent the country at the 2024 Paris Games, which start on July 26.
South Africa has not had a boxer at the Olympics since the 2012 London Games, when Buffalo City fighters Ayabonga Sonjica and Simpiwe Lusizi were the only two trailblazers.
The country could have qualified for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games when Sikho Nqothole, won gold at the African Championships and Sibusiso Bandla bronze. However Sascoc’s stringent conditions then barred qualification via the continent, so the two boxers could not represent South Africa in Brazil.
The drought continued when South African boxers could not qualify for the Covid-19-delayed Tokyo Olympics.
Despite the high hopes of finally breaking the hoodoo, the country will not have boxers in Paris.
The South African National Boxing Organisation (Sanabo) said after boxers performed poorly at the qualifiers in Senegal in September 2023 they were hoping for an improved display at the All Africa Games in Ghana in March and the inaugural Mandela Cup event in Durban in April.
“After none of our boxers secured gold medals at the All Africa Games in Ghana and Mandela African Boxing Cup in Durban in April, it clearly demonstrated the level of our capabilities in relation to the Olympic qualifiers,” Sanabo secretary Liwa Njokweni Mlokoti said.
“The Sanabo road towards the Olympic Games comes to an end since we will not be sending any boxers to qualifiers based on our current team performance.”
The South African team has been rocked by a huge exodus of boxers to the professional ranks, including Simnikiwe Bongco who won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022.
Others who have ditched the team to fight for pay are Tiisetso Matikinca, who was the lone boxer to win gold at the African Boxing Confederation Championships in Mozambique in September 2022, Moyisi Booi and Siseko Teyisi.
The last straw was when Sinovuyo Mthintelwa and Amzolele Dyeyi, who won silver in the Mandela African Boxing Cup in Durban, also decided to leave the team.
Mlokoti lamented the lack of experience in what remained of the team, saying they had been found wanting against seasoned opponents during qualifying championships.
“Sanabo has been ushering in a young, passionate team that was introduced into the international space in 2021.
“It has been unfortunate that our boxers have been competing against experienced opponents.”
Mlokoti said the structure would devise a new strategy to improve the performance of South African boxers.
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