'Nontshinga should have been nominated for Sports Star of the Year'

Nomfesane Nyatela has taken a swipe at the organisers of the SA Sports Awards for snubbing IBF junior flyweight world champion Sive Notshinga for the nomination which she believes would have made him the winner of the Sports Star of the Year gong.

The award went to Mamelodi Sundowns and Banyana Banyana goalkeeper Andile Dlamini, who received most votes to beat fellow nominees Ashleigh Buhai (female pro golfer) and Mathew Sates (19-year-old swimmer). The awards ceremony took place at Sun City last weekend.

Nyatela, who is the CEO of Rumble Africa Promotions, says Nontshinga is the only legitimate world boxing champion in the country and that alone carried enough weight for recognition.

"I am not against Dlamini winning," she said. "I am talking on behalf of boxing; it is sad for the sport development when boxers are being ignored at home but recognised internationally. 

"Nontshinga will be flying to Chicago next month to receive his IBF Boxer of the Year award during that organisation's ceremony." 

Though overly pleased, it came as a big shock to the fight fraternity when Moruti "Baby Face" Mthalane was voted SA Sportsman of the Year award in Durban in 2019.

That was the first for an SA  boxer to win that big since the awards were initiated in 2004. Boxing received its first  nomination in 2017.

Nyatela, whose company guides the career of Nontshinga, added: "When you have Bafana Bafana or Banyana Banyana going to compete on an international stage, they are promised bonuses. If they win those bonuses are doubled.

"You have a boxer and his two trainers going into a foreign country where everything is against you. 

"They come back with a world title and are welcomed back home like real heroes but they are left out of the important awards."

Nontshinga, then a 10-fight novice, won the IBF junior flyweight on points against Hector Flores in Mexico on September 22 last year.