Professional boxers will be allowed to resume training on August 1. Boxing SA chief executive Tsholofelo Lejaka told SowetanLIVE in an exclusive interview on Tuesday evening.
However, amateur boxing has been excluded from the resumption of training.
Lejaka, who has been hard work travelling to various provinces put in place health and hygiene system for the sporting code to comply with Covid-19 regulations, said boxing facilities were now safe for training.
Lejaka last month went to 16 gyms around the Eastern Cape to conduct inspections. This was followed by another trip that Lejaka, together BSA chief medical officer Dr Solly Selepe, undertook in North West for the similar reason.
BSA board member Khulile Radu and Gauteng provincial manager Lehlohonolo Ramagole spent last week in KwaZulu-Natal doing gym inspections.
Lejaka successfully assigned provincial managers in Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Nelson Mandela Metro and East London to also conduct the inspections. Their work, with the backing of the seven member of Boxing SA board – has paid dividends.
In a media statement Lejaka said: “On the July 2020 the board of Boxing South Africa held its regular quarterly meeting and passed a number of resolutions, key among which is the much anticipated approval for resumption of non-contact training under strict conditions. Other board resolutions will be communicated later in a separate update to licensees," said Lejaka.
Boxers to resume training next month: BSA CEO Tsholofelo Lejaka
Image: Veli Nhlapo
Professional boxers will be allowed to resume training on August 1. Boxing SA chief executive Tsholofelo Lejaka told SowetanLIVE in an exclusive interview on Tuesday evening.
However, amateur boxing has been excluded from the resumption of training.
Lejaka, who has been hard work travelling to various provinces put in place health and hygiene system for the sporting code to comply with Covid-19 regulations, said boxing facilities were now safe for training.
Lejaka last month went to 16 gyms around the Eastern Cape to conduct inspections. This was followed by another trip that Lejaka, together BSA chief medical officer Dr Solly Selepe, undertook in North West for the similar reason.
BSA board member Khulile Radu and Gauteng provincial manager Lehlohonolo Ramagole spent last week in KwaZulu-Natal doing gym inspections.
Lejaka successfully assigned provincial managers in Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Nelson Mandela Metro and East London to also conduct the inspections. Their work, with the backing of the seven member of Boxing SA board – has paid dividends.
In a media statement Lejaka said: “On the July 2020 the board of Boxing South Africa held its regular quarterly meeting and passed a number of resolutions, key among which is the much anticipated approval for resumption of non-contact training under strict conditions. Other board resolutions will be communicated later in a separate update to licensees," said Lejaka.
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The man has been spending sleepless nights including travelling to provinces to put in place appropriate systems to comply with health and hygiene measures to mitigate all risks of the Covid-19 pandemic with the purpose to enable Boxing SA to assure Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa that all the boxing training facilities are indeed safe before a written approval from him can be sought that training can now be permitted.
Lejaka – who together BSA Chief Medical Officer doctor Solly Selepe – also conducted inspection in gyms around North West. BSA board member Khulile Radu and Gauteng provincial manager Lehlohonolo Ramagole spent a week in KwaZulu-Natal where they did exactly what Lejaka did to the 16 gyms around the Eastern Cape. Lejaka assigned provincial managers in Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Nelson Mandela Metro and East London to do the same. Their work, with the backing of the seven member of Boxing SA board – has paid dividends.
The resumption of the training comes after on June 11, Mthethwa gazetted the directions for resumption of Sport, Arts and Cultural Activities under level 3.
"Following an elaborate and rigorous process by the department, on 9 July 2020 BSA received an approval from the minister. The approval is for resumption of non-contact training as per the operational plan submitted by BSA.
"The BSA board discussed the minister’s approval and expressed its unreserved appreciation and gratitude for this major breakthrough which couldn’t have come at a better time. The board further noted that notwithstanding the Minister’s approval, BSA still need to allocate time to ensure that all systems are in place before giving its own green light for boxing gyms to resume training. For that reason, the Board resolved that boxing gyms can only start to operate from 1 August 2020 provided that they comply with the following requirements as clearly spelt out by the minister:
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