- Ten more African boxers kiss goodbye to Bangkok qualifiers.
Mozambican Commonwealth Games silver medallist Tiago Muxanga (pictured) powered his way to the round of 16 as six more African boxers were sent home in the first session of the final Paris Olympic Games qualifiers in Bangkok, Thailand on Tuesday, May 28. Muxanga put up a gutsy show to squeeze a shocking 3-2 points victory over highly regarded Israeli southpaw Miroslav Kapuler, a quarter-finalist in this year’s European Championships. He lost in the round of 16 in last year’s Tashkent Worlds to the eventual gold medallist Aslanbek Shymbergenov of Kazakhstan.
Burundi’s boxing wondergirl Ornella Havyarimana (pictured in red) is through to the round of 16 in the Bangkok Olympic qualifiers. Ornella, the first Burundi boxer to win a medal – a silver – in the Africa Elite Championships, outpointed Afghanistan’s Lala Kargar in the bantamweight division to keep alive her hopes of qualifying for the Paris Olympics.
The other two African boxers to march on with Muxanga to the round of 16 are Morocco’s skipper Abdelhaq Nadir who stopped Mohamed Johari of Malaysia in 41 seconds of the second round and Ghana’s Joseph Commey beat DR Congo’s Hassan Kabengela, all light-welters.
Mauritius’ Richarno Colin’s hopes of featuring in his fourth Olympics went up in smoke when he lost 4-1 to the tough Moldova European silver medallist Alexandru Paraschiv.
Zambia’s Commonwealth Games silver medallist Stephen Zimba also joined the casualties list losing 5-0 to world bronze medallist Wanderson De Olivera of Brazil while Algeria’s Youcef Yaiche lost on points to Ireland’s Commonwealth Games champion Aidan Walsh, Ghana’s Henry Malm went down to Belgium’s Mohamed Rachem and DR Congo’s African Games light-middleweight champion Steve Kulenguluka didn’t make weight for his fight against Cuba’s world quarter-finalist Jorge Cuellar who qualified for the round of 16 without throwing a punch.
While it was all smiles for Ornella, not so for Kenya’s African Games bantamweight bronze medallist Amina Martha who lost on points to Canada’s Scarlett Delgado to become the 41st African boxer to fall by the wayside in Bangkok and the fourth Kenyan loser in the week-long championships.
Also notable was Mozambican Armando Sigauque’s 5-0 loss to Kyrgyzstan’s Seiitbek Uulu Munarbek; the 5:0 defeat of the Zambian Mwengo Mwale against the Ukraine well Abduraimov Aider and the 5:0 defeat of the Algerian Oussama Mordjane against the Korean Hyungseung Kim, all three in men’s 57kg.
✍🏼 AFBC Communications
