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Ellina Mhlanga, Harare Bureau
AFTER failing to attain qualification at the African Boxing Qualification tournament last year, the Zimbabwe Boxing Federation have said they would want to send some boxers for the Final World Olympic Qualifiers scheduled to take place in June.

Each continent had one qualifying event and for Africa the competition took place last year in Dakar, Senegal, in February.

The top three from each category for both men and women automatically qualified for the Olympics.

Zimbabwe had three boxers taking part but they all found the going tough and the national federation is now looking at sending a team for the final qualifier expected to take place in June in Paris, France.

ZBF technical director Steven Masiyambumbi is still fancying their chances and a number of boxers have been put on the long list by the national federation.

“We are not yet out. The World Qualifier is going to be the final selection for the Olympic Games. When we came back from Senegal last year we out a team of eight boxers in place because we couldn’t qualify then.

“So we put a team in place to prepare for the World Qualifier. There have been some obstacles because of the Covid-19 but the team is there. The boxers are training as individuals, we are giving them programmes so that they are always ready. They are not supposed to relax but the challenge is on monitoring them,” said Masiyambumbi.

The Zimbabwe Olympic Committee have indicated they will do everything they can to assist those that still have a chance to qualify.

The Olympic Committee has also submitted its budget to the Government in terms of what they need for preparations and assisting athletes attend qualifying events as they push to increase the number for Team Zimbabwe.

So far only rowing has secured a slot in the men’s single scull.

Masiyambumbi said they are also running around to raise some funds so that they are guaranteed of representation at the event in France.

“We have done our budgets for the final qualifier to be held in France. We have a team in place of eight boxers.

“However, the challenge is that France is far and we are not yet sure how much ZOC is going to support us. So as a federation we are trying also to find sponsorship so that we can send a team of eight. If we fail we can at least send three or four.

“Most corporates have been affected by the pandemic…So far we have submitted our budgets to some corporates we have not gotten their final decision. There is a company that had promised to help but still we are yet to get the final decision,” said Masiyambumbi.

After finding competition tough at continental level, going for the world qualifier which will feature boxers from the other continents also means the boxers have to up their game since competition is likely to be stiff at this level.

Some of the boxers they are looking at are Ndabezinhle Phiri, Trade Nkomozabo, Zibusiso Nyoni, Agnes Kwashi, Rudo Maposa, and Tendai Tigere.