Durban - Two boxers from the department of sports administration at Durban University of Technology (DUT) have been selected to represent South Africa in Türkiye from September 25 to 30.
Scelo Mkhwanazi, 21, from Ulundi and Siza Ngiba from Inanda will be competing at the FISU University World Cup Combat Sports competition.
DUT said the boxers were selected following their outstanding performances at the 2022 University Sports South Africa (USSA) Championships.
“They will be facing some of the best contenders from universities around the world, and battle it out in six sports, namely: boxing, karate, muaythai, sambo, wrestling and wushu,” said the university.
The university said Mkhwanazi won all three of his matches at the USSA tournament.
“This opportunity does not only give exposure to the boxers that made the squad, but it also flies the DUT flag high,” Mkhwanazi said.
He said he would never forget how special it was to be called up as one of the boxers to represent South Africa in Türkiye.
“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.”
Recalling how his boxing career began, Mkhwanazi said he started boxing six years ago and is currently fighting in the under 71kg category due to his height and strength.
“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 to a national boxing team,” he said.
Mkhwanazi said he has grown in the sport since 2015 due to being disciplined, hard working and not fearing competition.
He said what had helped him the most was being mentored by a friend and professional boxer, who is based in Gauteng.
Mkhwanazi said he was grateful to the DUT department of sports administration for the opportunity to go to Türkiye and the continuous support.
Ngiba said when he discovered that he would be going to Türkiye, he was excited.
“When I heard I will be going to Türkiye, I was excited but at the same time scared because I won’t be fighting for me alone, I’ll be fighting for my country as well. The closer the day comes the more it becomes scarier,” he said.
Ngiba, who weighs 57kg, said he fell in love with boxing in 2015 after he was selected for team eThekwini. He said one of his achievements was travelling to Botswana for the Region 5 games.
He said in preparation for the upcoming competition, he is training hard and putting in more hours.
Ngiba said his mentors were Error Spence Junior and Davin Henny.
Bongani Yengwa, head of the department of sports administration at the DUT, said for the past three years DUT boxing has been doing well.
However, he said this is the first time two boxers from the USSA team had been selected to represent the DUT in Türkiye.
“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 the sports programmes that we have progress,” said Yengwa.
He added that the two boxers’ selection for the event in Türkiye would encourage many students to take part in boxing and have more interest in joining sports activities at DUT.
Yengwa wished the boxers the best of luck as they prepared for the competition.