NAMIBIA’s boxers continued to shine at the Commonwealth Games on Friday as all three boxers in action won their fights to progress to the quarterfinals.
Mejandjae Kasuto, Elias Nashivela and Tobias Munihango all won their fights and will be joined in the quarterfinals by Jafet Uutoni who won on Thursday Sakaria Lukas who received a first round bye, lost to Tirafalo Seoko of Botswana on points yesterday.In the welterweight category, Mejandjae Kasuto beat Michalis Michaelides of Cyprus 5-3 on points. In a close encounter, the boxers drew the first round 1-1, before Kasuto won the next two rounds 2-1. Kasuto will now face Patrick Gallagher of Northern Ireland on Sunday for a place in the semifinals. ‘Kasuto struggled against the South African southpaw in the first round before he knocked him out, but he did much better against the Cyprian and I expected him to win,’ Joe Kaperu of the Namibia Boxing Federation (NBF) said. In the middleweight category Elias Nashivela overshadowed Albert Blaize of Dominica from the start. By the second round he was way ahead on points and the referee stopped the fight 2:12 into the second round with Nashivela leading 19-0 on points. Nashivela was scheduled to face Vijender Singh of India yesterday for a place in the semifinals. In the Super Heavyweight category Tobias Munihango beat Michael Nafakwa of Kenya 4-0 on points. Munihango also faced Blaise Yepmou of Cameroon yesterday for a place in the semifinals. Namibia’s bowlers had mixed results on Friday, recording three wins and three defeats. In the Women’s Pairs competition, Namibia’s Diana Viljoen and Theuna Grobler lost to Botswana 5-2 on a tiebreak after Botswana had won the first set 8-7 and Namibia the second 12-8. Viljoen and Grobler however came back to beat South Africa in straight sets, 8-6, 9-7. Namibia’s Women’s Trips team of Bea Lampbrecht, Charlotte Morland and Lesley Vermeulen lost 2-0 to India (8-7, 14-7), while the Men’s Pairs team of Willie Esterhuizen senior and Jean Viljoen lost 2-0 to Malaysia (13-3, 10-3). Namibia’s Men’s Trips team of Graham Snyman, Will Esterhuizen junior and Steven Peake however recorded two wins. They beat Brunei Darussalam 5-0 on a tiebreak after Namibia won the first set 11-3 and Brunei the second 11-6. Namibia also beat Niue Island 3-1 on a tiebreak after Niue Island won the first set 7-4 and Namibia the second set 13-1.Johanna Benson won Namibia’s first medal at the Games on Thursday, when she finished third in the final of the Women’s 100m T37 race for disabled athletes. – namibiasport.com.na
