Zibani Chikanda
# Zibani Chikanda

Zibani Chikanda (born 23 August 1985) is a Botswana former amateur boxer who competed at middleweight. He won a bronze medal at the 2015 African Games and a silver at the 2015 African Championships.

He was also a nine-time national champion, winning consecutive titles from 2009 to 2017. For his accomplishments, he was named sportsman of the year by the Botswana National Sports Commission in 2016.

## Early life

Chikanda was born on 23 August 1985 in Mathangwane, a village in the Central District of Botswana. He attended McConnell Senior Secondary School in nearby Tutume, initially focusing on volleyball before his older brother Buzani forced him to try boxing. He began training in 2002 but took a break from the sport after finishing school. In 2007 he was conscripted into the Botswana Defence Force, where he was able to make his return to the ring as a member of the Eastern Military Garrison boxing club, which he represented throughout his amateur career.

## Amateur career

In 2009, Chikanda was first called up to the Botswana national team. Later that year he won his first of nine national championships with a narrow decision victory over Gomotsang Gaasite. His first international competition was the 2011 Zone 4 African Championships, where he was the only member of Team Botswana who failed to medal. He found limited success on the international stage for the next three years, with his sole notable result being a bronze medal-finish at the 2012 African Cup of Nations.

His career resurged in April 2015 at the Zone 4 African Championships in Pretoria, where he won all three of his bouts en route to a gold medal. Four months later, he reached the finals of the African Championships in Casablanca, falling to future World Championship bronze medallist Hosam Bakr Abdin. He continued his success at the African Games that September, reaching the semi-finals and taking home a bronze medal. He then participated at the 2015 World Championships in Doha, suffering a first-round defeat to Aljaž Venko of Slovenia. In December he was named boxer of the year by the Botswana Boxing Association. He would also be named sportsman of the year by the Botswana National Sports Commission a few months later, beating out heavily-favourited world-class sprinter Isaac Makwala and karateka Ofentse Bakwadi for the honour.

He started 2016 by replicating his gold-medal performance at the Zone 4 African Championships in January. At the African Olympic Qualification Tournament two months later, he beat Titus Joseph of Namibia in the preliminary round before being eliminated by Anauel Ngamissengue. Chikanda then headlined an interclub tournament held at the Eastern Military Garrison in Selebi-Phikwe, his home training ground. For the second year in a row he was named boxer of the year by the Botswana Boxing Association.

He made an appearance at the 2017 African Championships in Brazzaville, but was knocked out in his first fight by Ngamissengué. His final bout was at the 2017 National Championships in Gaborone, where he was able to win his ninth consecutive national title before retiring.

