2nd World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Thailand from May 24 to June 2, 2024
- Only five winners on the second day of Olympic qualifiers
- Changalawe, Bwogi shown the door, Okong’o lifts East Africa
Another bad day in the office for African boxers in Bangkok.
Out of the 16 in action today (May 25), only five won their bouts in the ongoing final Paris Olympic Games qualifiers in Thailand’s capital city.
The five winners are Kenya’s African Games champion Edwin Okong’o who stopped Mali’s Gory Mohamadu in the first round, Mauritius’ super-heavy Joseph Kennedy St Pierre beat Ghana’s Mark Ahondjo, Morocco’s flyweight Hamza Essaadi stopped Fiji’s Chand Nehal in the third round, Cape Verde’s flyweight David Pina KO’d Serbia’s Omer Ametovic in the third round and Ghana’s African Games bronze medallist Theo Allotey outpointed Hungary’s Attila Bernath.
Okong’o was the only East African winner as the other two, Tanzania’s Yusuf Changalawe lost 3-2 to Haiti’s Cedrick Belony and Uganda’s pro boxer Shadiri Bwogi also lost by a similar 3-2 split decision to Tajikistan’s Nekruz Salimov, both in the light-heavyweight class.
The other African boxers who fell by wayside are Morocco’s light-heavyweight Mohamed Houmri, Algeria’s flyweight Mohamed Moziane, Morocco’s super-heavy Younes Boudid, Sierra Leone’s light-heavyweight John Harding, Tunisia’s flyweight Eddine Zidi, Nigeria’s flyweight Moussa Sahabi and Morocco’s light-heavyweight Ahmed Badrani.
With today’s 11 losses, the total number of African boxers out of the competition is now 19 with 54 left to try their luck on the 51 remaining slots.
Britte Mbabi (Blue) from DR Congo stopped Saida Lahmidi (Red) from Morocco in their last night fight in welterweight division.
AFBC Communications