ZIMBABWE female boxer Kudakwashe Chiwandire's World Boxing Council (WBC) International championship fight has been postponed due to visa challenges.
Chiwandire was set to clash with Indian Urvashi Singh this coming Friday in Australia. The bout has been put on hold with a new date yet to be confirmed. The fight was going to be her second opportunity for the WBC title fight this year after she lost the WBC Interim Super Bantamweight title to Yamileth Mercado in March.
The pugilist's manager Clyde Musonda said the postponement is a huge blow for the boxer since she had worked hard and was geared up for this new challenge.
“It is so sad that the fight has been postponed at the 11th hour when we were ready for the fight. Kuda was training very hard for the past 3 months for this fight and it’s really sad,” said Musonda.
“I'm even shocked about the refusal of visas since both Kuda and I have been travelling overseas without any problem. Kuda is also a former WBC interim champion and I have asked the promoter to produce the refusal letter, but up to now I haven't received any.”
Despite the setback, Musonda said she will keep on training.
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On the postponed bout, the Australian promoters had outlined that they would pay for the travel and accommodation expenses for only the boxer and one trainer, while the WBC prescribes that a team of three people should be in the fighter’s corner.
“This postponement has affected our camp, we were hungry for the title because we knew that we were going to grab it and on ratings Kuda is ranked number eight while the champion is ranked 28th by boxrec,” he said.
"It’s painful because we were training on zero sponsorship and I had to invest resources on Kuda knowing that when we go there, we have high chances of winning the belt. It has also even affected her teammates because I had to suspend all their engagements and concentrate on this particular fight.
"The promoter assured me that he is going to reschedule the fight to a later date and new venue. However, we are only going to break training during holidays, hoping that any day we will get either this belt or any other opportunity that will arise. We know such things happen but still we don’t lose hope, one day it will happen again.”