Zibani Chikanda

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.[1] He began training in 2002 but took a break from the sport after finishing school.[1] 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.[1]

In 2009, Chikanda was first called up to the Botswana national team.[1] Later that year he won his first of nine national championships with a narrow decision victory over Gomotsang Gaasite.[3] His first international competition was the 2011 Zone 4 African Championships, where he was the only member of Team Botswana who failed to medal.[4] 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.[5]

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.[1][6] Four months later, he reached the finals of the African Championships in Casablanca, falling to future World Championship bronze medallist Hosam Bakr Abdin.[7] He continued his success at the African Games that September, reaching the semi-finals and taking home a bronze medal.[1][8] He then participated at the 2015 World Championships in Doha, suffering a first-round defeat to Aljaž Venko of Slovenia.[9] In December he was named boxer of the year by the Botswana Boxing Association.[10] 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.[11]

He started 2016 by replicating his gold-medal performance at the Zone 4 African Championships in January.[12] 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.[13] Chikanda then headlined an interclub tournament held at the Eastern Military Garrison in Selebi-Phikwe, his home training ground.[14] For the second year in a row he was named boxer of the year by the Botswana Boxing Association.[15]

He made an appearance at the 2017 African Championships in Brazzaville, but was knocked out in his first fight by Ngamissengué.[16] His final bout was at the 2017 National Championships in Gaborone, where he was able to win his ninth consecutive national title before retiring.[2]

• AIBA bio