24-year-old Richarno Colin from Mauritius was crowned at the African Zone IV Championships in Gaborone, Botswana earlier in May 2011.
After winning a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi last year the Beijing Olympian Colin won the Bocskai Memorial Tournament in February where the triumphed over England's Bradley Saunders in the final.
The event moved from its originally scheduled location in Namibia to Botswana, where Richarno Colin won the light welterweight gold medal after beating Tseisa Litheo of Lesotho.
At the Zone IV Championships a total of 64 boxers from 10 nations competed: host Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. Angola, the Comoros, Malawi and Zambia missed the regional boxing event.
Botswana's Bathusi Mogajane coached by Beijing Olympic Games quarterfinalist Khumiso Ikgopoleng defeated Mozambique's Crimildo Guifutela by 20:8 on his opening contest in Gaborone. Mogajane continued his winning streak when he defeated Commonwealth Games winner and Beijing Olympic veteran Japhet Uutoni of Namibia at the light flyweight final. Their contest was voted the best bout of the competition.
After receiving the Promising Boxer of the Year trophy Botswana's Oteng Oteng was named the best boxer of the Zone IV Championships in Gaborone where he claimed the flyweight gold medal. At the final the University of Botswana athlete Oteng defeated Ludovic Bactora of Mauritius by points.
Bruno Richard Julie became bronze medalist at the Beijing Olympic Games and performed well on his opening contest against African Youth Games silver medalist Andrique Allisop of Seychelles in Gaborone. At the bantamweight class final he had a harder but victorious fight for the gold against Botswana's Commonwealth Games bronze medalist 21-year-old Tirafalo "Fighting Prince" Seoko from Kgalagadi.
Botswana's team captain 29-year-old Mmoloki Nogeng competed at the 2009 AIBA World Championships in Milan and beat Namibia's Titus Iyambo at the lightweight final.
Mauritius' 19-year-old Pierre St. Kennedy triumphed over Botswana's Moabi Mothiba at the welterweight final. Swaziland's team captain Musa Ngozo won over Jean Jovet at the middleweight gold medal contest.
Namibia's Mujandjae Kasuto qualified for the Beijing Olympic Games where he lost against Russia's Andrey Balanov. At the light heavyweight final Kasuto won against Seychelles'17-year-old Keddy Agnes who defeated Rodney Prosper of Mauritius earlier in the tournament.
Newcomer to the national squad Tsenang Mohohutso secured Botswana's fourth gold medal in the heavyweight division while the last gold was achieved by Tobias Munihango with his defeat of Seychelles' Ronny Legras who was coached by Russian-descent Igor Kolesnikov.
Namibia held the top position in the team event in the last two editions of the zonal championships but ultimately Botswana overtook them to win the team event, placing Mauritius in second and defending champion Namibia in third position in Gaborone.
The medalists qualified to the upcoming African Championships which will be held in Yaoundé, Cameroon next week. Mozambique rarely sends its team to a boxing tournament but this time the All Africa Games will be held in their country, in Maputo September 2011.
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