Luza blames poor preps

As boxers lose first bouts at World Championships

Senior Boxing National  Team coach  Lechedzani  Luza  has cited    lack  of  proper   preparations as  one  of the contributing  factors   for his team’s  poor  performance  at  the  on-going Women’s World Boxing Championships  in Sochi, Russia.

After   the  men’s   team snubbed  the competition due to  fatigue Botswana Boxing Association (BoBA)  sent  three  female    boxers  to  the  competition  in Lethabo Modukanele (49kg), Keamogetse Kenosi (60kg) and  Aratwa Kasemang (63kg)  to  prove  their   worth   against   the  best   in  the  world.

However, Botswana’s  stay at  the  event  was cut  short  as  all  the boxers  lost their  first  bouts at the tournament – a performance  which  head coach  Luza  says didn’t come  as a shock  considering that  they  did not prepare  well  for the  tournament  and didn’t get  enough  rest after  the All Africa Games in Morocco.

African  silver medalist  Kasemang  lost  5-0 to Milana Safronova of   Kazakhstan  in   the   preliminaries while   it  was  tough  bouts  for  Kenosi and   Modukanele who  lost  by “Referee Stops Contest” to Venezuela  and Japan   respectively.

“So many factors did affect our performance; partly it was because of experience and lack of good preparations because we were not in good shape as compared to our opponents. You  could tell  even when we  tried to punch we didn’t have the power and we  couldn’t  move at the  right  time and counter punch  at the  right time. So it is more of preparations. We didn’t  prepare well and we need more  time to prepare  our  boxers and  fine tune  their basics so there  is a lot we have to  do in terms of their  techniques  and tactical  approach,” said Luza.

Despite  the  dismal  performance Luza  believes  the pugilists  did  get   some   experience   more so that  all  boxing powerhouses  were    at the  competition. “I believe boxers have learnt a lot looking at how people box at this level. I would say the other thing we are benefiting greatly from is we are organising sparring with nations which have finished their bouts so now it is like training camp so it is a great opportunity for us,” he said.

Earlier  this  year   BoBA put in  a very  good  programme for the  team which was gearing up for the Africa  games  and that  paid as the  team  managed  to   scoop three gold medals for their efforts.

According  to  Luza  its  high   time  BoBA  has a full time  coach   because it is the only way  which  can bear   results   for  Botswana.

“Immediately after Morocco we could have gone somewhere to prepare because we have always known   that we were going to the World Championships. Even me I wasn’t  released  from work which means I only worked with  boxers in the  evening and that  was not enough. In other countries coaches are with their boxers full time so it’s only in Botswana where we have coaches as volunteers. We can’t have results if we continue like this, we should forget,” said Luza.