🇹🇭 2nd World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Thailand from May 24 to June 2, 2024
SUPER-DUPER THURSDAY
▫️ Five African boxers punch their way to the round of 16 and three kiss goodbye to the qualifiers
▫️ A total of 58 boxers are out with 15 remaining
What a marvelous performance by African boxers on Thursday, May 30, the seventh day of the competition in Bangkok.
Five of the eight boxers in action won their fights with three losing on points.
Following the defeat of the three boxers, the total number of African boxers out of the qualifiers has swelled to 58 with 15 remaining.
The three losers on Thursday are Kenya’s heavyweight Peter Abuti who dropped a unanimous decision to Poland’s Mateusz Bereznicki, Morocco’s African Games bronze medallist Hamza Essaadi surprisingly lost unanimously to unheralded Sri Lankan flyweight Umayanga Mihiran and Gabon’s African Games bantamweight bronze medallist and a silver medal winner in last year’s Africa Elite Championships Franck Mombey went down 5-0 to North Korea’s Ryong So Chon in the flyweight division.
Africa’s five winners on the seventh day of the final Paris Olympic Games qualifiers are Uganda’s Australia-based heavyweight Regarn Simbwa, Sierra Leone’s Josefien Betist, Cape Verde’s flyweight David Pina and Ghana’s African Games bronze medallist Theo Allotey.
The competition enters the eighth day on Friday, May 31 with nine African boxers in action. Six of them are in the round of 16 and three flyweights fighting for the first time in Bangkok in the round of 32.
The three are Zambia’s African Games bronze medallist Margret Tembo vs Guatemala’s Aylin James and an all-African bout featuring Nigeria’s Zainab Adeshina fighting Liberia’s Grace Fanhbulleh.
In an interview with AFBC Communications , Tembo, minimumweight gold medallist at the 2022 Africa Elite Championships in Maputo, said she’s confident of advancing to pre-quarters.
“I’m the only one remaining in our Zambia team of three boxers, I’ll fight for my teammates Mwengo Mwale and Stephen Zimba, it’s hot here in Bangkok but I’m good to go,” Tembo said.
The nine African boxers in action on Friday, May 31st.
Women’s flyweight round of 32
Margret Tembo (Zambia) vs Aylin James (Guatemala)
Zainab Adeshina (Nigeria) vs Grace Fanhbuller (Liberia)
Female welterweight R16
Brigitte Mbabi (DR Congo) vs Mai Kito (Japan)
Ivanusa Moreira (Cape Verde) vs Sara Kali (Canada)
Sedja Sanogo (Cote d’Ivoire) vs Grainne Walsh (Ireland)
Flyweight R16
David Pina (Cape Verde) vs Dmytro Zamotayev (Ukraine)
Theo Allotey (Ghana) vs Liu Chuang (China)
Heavyweight R16
Regarn Simbwa (Uganda) vs Talley Jamar (USA)
📸 DR Congo’s US-based super-heavyweight Gilbert Kabamba (left) put up a good show but lost narrowly 3-2 to Columbia’s Willys Mendoza in the round 32.
✍🏼 AFBC Communications