Kass Naidoo<\/a>, a South African broadcaster and women\u2019s sport advocate.<\/p>\n\u201dShe began recognising women in boxing in 2009 when GSports honoured pioneering female promoter Mbali Zantsi as a Woman of the Year.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince then, GSport has continued to elevate female fighters, later recognising stars like Noni \u201cShe Bee Stingin\u201d Tenge [the first woman from SA to win a professional boxing world championship when she claimed the IBF female welterweight title].<\/p>\n
\u201dKudos to our licensees, and we are proud of their nominations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201dKudos are in order for our licensees, and we are proud of their nominations.\u201d \u2014 Boxing SA CEO Tsholofelo Lejaka<\/p>\n
The three women have been recognised not only for excellence in sport but also for transforming lives, breaking barriers and giving hope to communities that need it most.<\/p>\n
Gym owner and award-winning boxing manager McAusland is a finalist in the Woman in Sport category, and Hadebe, the reigning SA flyweight champ, is in the African Woman in Sport category. Almeida, the first professional women\u2019s boxer in SA, is a finalist in the Special Recognition category.<\/p>\n
The recognition of women in boxing is partly the result of the work by Fikile Mbalula, who broke down the barriers as sports minister by appointing Muditambi Ravele as Boxing SA\u2019s chairperson in 2013.<\/p>\n
That position had been held by men since the body\u2019s formation.<\/p>\n
McAusland is known for fighting hard for women to get opportunities, recognition and respect as athletes. She has used the sport to help vulnerable and abused girls rebuild confidence, find their voices and reclaim their futures, and her guidance has produced world and South African champions. <\/p>\n
Hadebe\u2019s greatest fights are often outside the ropes. She has become a passionate advocate for vulnerable children, using her growing profile to speak for those who have been silenced, proving that the strongest punches are sometimes thrown through compassion, courage and service.<\/p>\n
Almeida has dedicated countless hours to coaching children on the autism spectrum, using boxing to build confidence, discipline and belonging. Her unwavering commitment has shown that every child deserves the opportunity to discover their strength, regardless of the challenges they face.<\/p>\n
\u201cWomen\u2019s boxing isn\u2019t asking for a seat at the table anymore… it\u2019s earning it \u2014 one champion, one life and one victory at a time,\u201c said McAusland.<\/p>\n
Endorsed by the sport, arts and culture department, the GSport Awards will take place at the Wanderers Club in Johannesburg on a date to be confirmed.<\/p>\n
Sowetan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Story audio is generated using AI Winning recognition at the 21st edition of the GSport Awards will be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":787460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,278261,278258,278259,278260,82,230436],"class_list":["post-787459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-excellence-in-sport","tag-female-promoter-zantsi","tag-female-welterweight-title","tag-hope-to-communities","tag-sports","tag-women-in-boxing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}