JONAS Junias Jonas lived up to the hype and his promise to win the Commonwealth Games gold medal, said the Namibia Boxing Federation’s public relations officer Robert Pendapala Haihambo.
Supremely confident as he is gifted, Jonas put on a jaw-dropping show from his first to the final bout, becoming a crowd favourite at the Gold Coast in Australia in the process.
The image of a beaming Jonas on the podium Down Under was not only just vindication for the boxer who controversially lost out on the gold four years earlier in Glasgow, but the moment also highlighted the 23-year-old’s fortitude, having exorcised the demons of a disastrous 2016 Olympic Games campaign in Rio de Janeiro, where he arrived a top contender and the nation’s flag-bearer, only to return home eight months after the global spectacle had concluded amid a swirl of controversy and international animosity.
Jonas had been stuck in the Namibian embassy in Rio since August 2016, while his court case for alleged sexual assault dragged on. But he was finally allowed to return to Namibia, pending the finalisation of the court proceedings in Brazil.
The boxer was accused of the crime by a chambermaid on 7 August 2017 before his opening fight, which he subsequently lost on points after spending two days in holding cells.
Following his ordeal, he was snuck back into the country by the Namibia National Olympic Committe. But today, when Jonas arrives at the Hosea Kutako International Airport, he will have nowhere to hide as he returns a hero.
“He had his mind made up, and had convinced everyone that he was going to bring back gold. The question was not if he was going to do it, rather how he was going to do it, and who was going to taste his leather,” a boisterous Haihambo told The Namibian Sport.
“Jonas loves to box, and he went out there to have fun. He, however, felt a sense of incompleteness due to the Rio situation and his subsequent performance then.”
Redemption for Jonas, who has maintained his innocence throughout, began in Congo-Brazzaville last year when, along with teammate Mathias Hamunyela, he won gold at the African Confederation Boxing Championships.
On Saturday, he upgraded from a Commonwealth Games silver to gold, just as he had promised, when outclassing Canadian Thomas Bloomenfeld. Jonas joins Jafet Uutoni as the only Namibians to win boxing gold at the Games.
The ambitious fighter intends to replicate his Commonwealth success at the 2020 Olympics in Japan.
“Well, I am never satisfied with what I achieve, and that [victory] was just to prove to my coach [Albertus Tsamaseb] that all his hard work and effort is not going to waste. I’m aiming for greater challenges, but we’ll have to discuss it with my coach,” Jonas said.
Haihambo said Jonas was the de facto leader of the team, and that his enthusiasm and dedication rubbed off on Hamuyela and newcomer Tryagain Ndevelo, who both managed to reach the second round.
“Jonas is continuing to set the bar for Olympic-style boxing. The federation is on a continuous lookout for talented and skilled boxers,” said Haihambo.
“Jonas’ performance just means that the criterion in terms of selection is to be benchmarked on his and other talented boxers’ style of boxing. The bar has been set high for major events such as the African Championships later this year in Morocco, the World Championships in 2019, and the Olympic Games in 2020,” he added.
The official expressed hope that Jonas’ success will help attract more investors to amateur boxing.
“Despite achievements of this calibre, funding continues to be a challenge. The federation is calling on corporate entities to invest in boxing as this will ensure participation in more international competitions and domestic competitions to identify talented boxers such as Jonas, Mathias and Tryagain,” Haihambo pleaded.
“As the custodians of amateur boxing, the Namibian Boxing Federation is proud of the achievement of the team and the crucial exposure the boxers have received as this will help with other competitions in the Olympic cycle running up to 2020.”
