BIG VICTORY FOR AFRICA
Cape Verde’s Pina and Ghana’s Allottey light up the day for African boxers in Italy despite five of them making an early exit.
An upset victory by Cape Verde’s David Pina and a scintillating show by Ghana’s promising youngster Theophillus Allotey aka Theo Lopez made up for the early exit of five African boxers during Sunday’s (March 3) opening day of the World Olympic Qualifiers in Busto Arsizio, Italy.
Cape Verde’s David Pina scored a shocking 3-2 victory over fancied Spain’s World Championships bronze medallist Martin Molina to qualify for the round of 32.
Ghana’s talented flyweight Theophilus Allotey gave Africa a further boost with his impressive unanimous points win over World Championships quarter-finalist Tu Po-Wei of Taipei. Allotey, a product of Wisdom Boxing Club in Accra, now moves to the round of 32 to trade leather on Wednesday (March 6) with Tashi Wangdi from Bhutan, a country in South Asia which is a Bhuddist kingdom on Himalayas’ eastern edge.
The five African boxers who bade farewell to the Olympic Qualifiers on the first day were Uganda’s flyweight Shafik Mawanda, Nigeria’s light-middleweight Destiny Idugboe, Morocco’s super-heavyweight Mohamed Firisse, Kenya’s light-flyweight Christine Ongare and Morocco’s lightweight Chaymae Rhaddi.
For Pina, March 3, 2024, will forever remain etched in his record books following his upset win over Molina.
“I’m so happy to win my first fight against an opponent whom many people thought would win easily,” an excited Pina told me in a telephone interview from Busto Arsizio. Molino scored a controversial points win over Zambia’s Patrick Chinyemba in the quarter-finals of last year’s World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Pina, the 2022 Africa Championships bantamweight bronze medallist, will now take on South Korea’s Kim Inkyu in the round of 32 on Wednesday, March 6.
“He won the first round 3-2, my coach (Bruno de Carvalho) then encouraged me in between the rounds, he told I must win the fight because it’s very important to our plans with him. I then took charge and won the second round, the third was even but I was more aggressive.”
A father of two children, Hellen who’s seven years old and three-year-old Miller, Pina made his presence felt in Cape Verde’s boxing circles in 2013 when he won the national light-flyweight title.
“By then I was just 17 years old but I proved myself,” recalls Pina who celebrates his 28th birthday on August 7 this year.
“A year later in 2014, I joined the national team and made my debut in an international tournament in Portugal followed by the regional one in Angola, I’ve won the Cape Verde national title six times.”
Pina currently stays in Portugal with his two children and lovely wife Cindy. He’s been in Portugal since he participated in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
“It’s more convenient for me in Portugal since I’m nearer to my coach (Bruno de Carvalho), he’s Portuguese I’m training with him from 2021.”
In other bouts, as stated earlier, the going was not smooth for the five African boxers who all lost their fights.
Uganda’s flyweight Shafik Mawanda and Nigeria’s light-middleweight Destiny Idugboe all lost on walkovers against Teo Wei Xuan of Singapore and Son Seok Jun of Korea respectively. Morocco’s super-heavyweight Mohammed Firisse was beaten 5-0 by Norway’s Omar Shiha while Kenya’s Christine Ongare lost 5-0 to Taipei’s Guo Yi-Xuan and Morocco’s silver medallist at the 2022 Africa Championships in Maputo, Chaymae Rhaddi, put up a splendid performance before going down 3-2 to Ukraine’s Hana Okhrei.
Photo: Cape Verde’s David Pina (left) battling it out with Spain’s Martin Molina. He scored an upset 3-2 victory.
✍🏼 AFBC Communications