SENTILE’S DREAM
Star UWC boxer Asemahle Sentile is getting closer to his Olympic aspirations By Myolisi Gophe
W
hen Asemahle Sentile was young, his father used to tease him with the nickname “Softie” as he believed he was too soft-hearted. To prove he could also be a “tough boy” and make his dad proud, he joined a boxing club where his older brother was already a member. Since then, Sentile’s ability in the sport has not only proven that he can be tough, but has also opened
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plenty of new opportunities for the athlete. Just this past month, he was named as one of only two boxers from the Western Cape to make the South African National Boxing Organisation’s (SANABO) elite squad for the World Olympic Qualifiers. The squad was selected following trials that were held in Durban in December 2020 and are set to attend a training camp in due course. There, only the best of the best will be chosen for the
final team to represent South Africa at the qualifiers, scheduled to take place in Paris, France. “Every boy would want to make his dad proud,” the Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Psychology student says. “Having seen how proud my father was and how he reacted when my brother’s coach used to tell him how a boxing tournament had gone, I decided to follow suit.” After he joined the club in his neighbourhood of Site C in
