Kasuto in confident mood

By: HELGE SCHUTZ

NAMIBIAN boxer Mujandjae Kasuto is in a confident mood ahead of his second round 75kg middleweight fight against Zoltan Harcsa of Hungary at the Olympic Games this afternoon.

A lot will be at stake as the winner will secure a place in the quarterfinals and from there it will be just one more victory to an Olympic medal.
Kasuto was in excellent form in his first round fight as he beat Sobirdzhon Nazarov of Tajikistan 11-8 on points.
Both boxers were in great condition and threw lots of punches throughout their bout. The boxers were tied at 3-3 at the end of the first round but Kasuto stepped up the tempo to win the next two rounds and the contest. It was a great performance which impressed Namibia’s Chef de Mission Ndeulipula Hamutumwa.
“Desmond Kasuto has grown with age. If I look at how he performed in Beijing and how he performed now, then he is a totally different person. He has grown both in stature and in composure and he is more skilful now,” he said.
He will have to be at his best though to beat Harcsa. Although the Hungarian is only 19 years old, he is highly rated and won a bronze medal at the Youth Olympic Games.
Last year he came ninth at the World Boxing Championships in Azerbaijan, while he was the losing finalist at the Bocsksai Memorial Tournament in February this year.
In his first fight on Saturday, he beat Venezuela’s Jose Espinoza Mena 16-13 on points in a riveting contest.
In that fight, the boxers were level on points going into the last round, but the Hungarian found the reserves to gain the upper hand and with some nifty footwork and quality punches, found the target several times to defeat his opponent.
Kasuto’s coach Mistake Gariseb said that his charge was in good shape and in a relaxed and confident mood.
“The preparations have been going well and Kasuto is focussed and looking forward to the fight. Today we worked on our tactics and tried to eliminate some mistakes from the first fight,” he said.
Gariseb said he saw Harcsa in action in the first round and had worked out some tactics to counter the Hungarian.
“We watched his fight and we have been planning some tactics to counter him. He is a good boxer but if our plans work Kasuto will have a good chance to win the fight.
Gariseb said Kasuto was getting good support from the rest of the Namibian athletes in the Athletes’ Village and that there was a confident mood in the camp.
“Kasuto is feeling confident and relaxed. We have been receiving good support from our fellow Namibian athletes and we are all confident and looking forward to the fight,” he said.

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