Zibani Chikanda

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. 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. Lost to Mohamed Amine Meskini (Tunisia) 18–23 Defeated Steven Masiyambumbi (Zimbabwe) 22–8 Lost to Sofiane Tabi (Algeria) 12–20 2015 Botswana Best of the Best Tournament in Gaborone, Botswana (light heavyweight) Lost to Thabang Motsewabeng 0–3 2015 Zone 4 African Championships in Pretoria, South Africa (middleweight) Defeated Vidal Antonio Galeta (Angola) 3–0 Defeated Siphiwe Lusizi (South Africa) WO Defeated Lourenço Cossa (Mozambique) 3–0 2015 African Championships in Casablanca, Morocco (middleweight) Defeated Mayk Miyenikoue Nruguen (Gabon) 3–0 Defeated Lassina Keita (Mali) TKO2 Defeated John Koudeha (Togo) TKO2 Lost to Hosam Bakr Abdin (Egypt) 0–3

2015 African Games in Brazzaville, Congo (middleweight) Defeated Getachew Akililu (Ethiopia) TKO2 Defeated Lourenço Cossa (Mozambique) 3–0 Lost to Glory L'Muala (DR Congo) 0–3 2015 World Championships in Doha, Qatar (middleweight) Lost to Aljaž Venko (Slovenia) 0–3 2016 Zone 4 African Championships in Maputo, Mozambique (middleweight) Lost to Anauel Ngamissengue (Congo) KO1