GABORONE, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Botswana will host the Zone IV African Boxing Championships in the capital, Gaborone from April 24-27.
The tournament will bring together the best boxers that Southern Africa can offer.
64 male and 14 female boxers from 12 regional countries are expected to compete.
Botswana has already hosted major regional tournaments such as the African Union Sports Council Region (AUSC) Region 5 under 20 Youth Games and the Zone VI Basketball Club Championships preliminaries.
With a team of eight male boxers and three females, Botswana's medal prospects are high, especially in the ladies teams, which comprises of Lethabo Modukanele in the 48kg division, Keamogetse Kenosi and Aratwa Kesemang in the 57kg and 60kg respectively.
The Local Organizing Committee chairperson, France Mabiletsa stated in an interview on Tuesday that Botswana is ready to host and compete in the tournament, highlighting the importance of hosting a tournament of such magnitude.
Nine regional countries out of the invited 12 have already confirmed their participation while Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe have confirmed their absence.
"We are also expecting Somali Republic to compete as guest nation and they have confirmed to send one female athlete," he said.
Botswana last hosted the Zone IV Championships in 2013.
The games are used as qualifiers for the African Championships and All Africa Games, where the winners will qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Participating include the host Botswana, Angola, The Comoros, Lesotho, Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, eSwatini, Zambia.