DUT boxers set off to represent SA in Turkey

TWO boxers from the Department of Sports Administration at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) have been selected to represent South Africa in Turkey following their outstanding performance in the 2022 University Sports South Africa (USSA) Championships.

The DUT athletes, Scelo Mkhwanazi from Ulundi and Siza Ngiba from eNanda, will be competing at the Federation Internationale du Sport Universitaire (FISU) University World Cup Combat Sports, set to take place in Turkey from Sunday, September 25 to Friday, September 30. They will be facing some of the best contenders from universities around the world and will battle it out in six sports, namely, boxing, karate, Muay Thai, sambo, wrestling and wushu.

Speaking about this achievement, Mkhwanazi who won all three matches in the USSA tournament, said, “This opportunity does not only give the exposure to the boxers that made the squad, but it also flies the DUT flag high. I have been a boxer since 2015, and it marks six years since I had my first fight. Over these years, I have won medals and trophies, with my biggest, recent achievement being completing the USSA tournament untouched. I had three fights, and I won all of them with knockouts, which led to being selected for a national boxing team. I am now fighting in the Under 71kg category due to my height and strength.”

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He further explained that he survived all these years in boxing because of being disciplined, working hard, not fearing competition, and most importantly, the mentorship from a good friend, Mfanele Ntuli, who’s a professional boxer based in Gauteng.

“I can never forget how special it was being called up as one of the boxers to represent South Africa in Turkey. I am still nervous as this is my first time travelling abroad, but I feel we were given enough time to prepare, and our coaches have been helpful in preparing us for this big event ahead of us,” added Mkhwanazi.

Mkhwanazi mentioned that earlier, in the month of July 2022, they had a camp for all boxers which was helpful as it gave them a chance to interact as teammates and get to know each other. He is also grateful to the DUT Sports Administration Department for the opportunity and continuous support.

The second athlete, Ngiba, said that he fell in love with boxing in 2015 after he was selected for Team eThekwini. He also shared that he has travelled to Botswana for the Region 5 games. He is working hard during training and putting in more hours as he weighs 57kg, and he mentioned that his mentors are Error Spence Junior and Davin Henny.

“What made me survive and kept me going was winning and the support of my coaches. When I heard I will be going to Turkey, I was excited but at the same time scared because I won’t be fighting for myself alone; I’ll be fighting for my country, as well. The closer the day comes, the scarier it becomes,” he said.

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Bongani Yengwa, head of the Department of Sport Administration at DUT, said that for the past three years, DUT Boxing has been doing well. However, he mentioned that it is the first time to have two boxing athletes from the USSA team being selected to represent DUT in Turkey.

“I would like to thank the coach, team manager, sports officer and stakeholders from all the departments who have assisted in making sure that all our sports programmes are a success,” said Yengwa.