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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Kickboxing Association is expected to kick-start their season at the end of this month when they host South Africa in the Who is Who tournament in Harare. The one-day event is slated for May 31 at Les Brown and will see three local professionals battle it out against opponents from the neighbouring country in the main bouts of the tournament.

However, there will be other matches featuring amateur boxers and female participants from different provinces.
Zika president Toni Kamangira said preparations were already underway and they were looking forward to their first tournament this season.

“South Africa are coming and they are going to bring 10 fighters, including three females.
“We are starting with a regional event and they will be fielding three professionals. One of them was in Kenya and won a title in the lightweight WKF event.

“So we are going to field an equivalent number to the team they are bringing. We already have three professionals — Nicolas Kurimira, Isaac Marara and Norbert Bazioni.

‘We also have a pro-am based in South Africa, Ronald Deketeke, who is coming,” said Kamangira.
The Zika president said they were expecting participants from provinces to take part in the supporting bouts.

“We are also going to have provinces taking part and some have already confirmed their participation. We have four at the moment — Matabeleland South, Harare, Mashonaland East and Matabeleland North.

“We are starting to gear up for this year and it’s going to be a serious year, a year of progress. Immediately after this tournament, we are going to Kenya to compete there and we have the World Cup.

“This year we are going to push ourselves in a professional way,” said Kamangira.