Kenya’s Edwin Okong’o faces Egypt’s Elawady Omar at Kasarani.
Grace Atieno and Rosemarion Otieno secure Kenya’s first two gold medals, while Veronica Mbithe adds silver at Kasarani Indoor Arena.
Grace Atieno and Rosemarion Otieno secured Kenya’s first two gold medals at the Africa Boxing Championships. The minimumweight and lightweight fighters won their finals at Kasarani Indoor Arena in contrasting fashion.
Atieno stopped Tanzania’s Veronica Thomas Mapunda in the third round, while Otieno defeated Algeria’s Ichrak Chaib on unanimous points. National flyweight champion Veronica Mbithe also added silver after losing 4-1 to Algeria’s Fatiha Mansouri.
Atieno claims first Africa Boxing Championships gold
Atieno put Mapunda under pressure with quick, accurate jabs throughout the opening two rounds of their minimumweight final. The Tanzanian continued into the third round, but the referee halted the contest just seconds after it began.
The referee-stopped-contest result therefore gave Atieno her first gold medal in international competition. She described the achievement as the fulfilment of a wish and expressed hope for further success.
Otieno, meanwhile, delivered Kenya’s second gold with a commanding performance against Chaib in the lightweight final. The Germany-based Kenyan held the advantage across all three rounds despite the Algerian’s speed and composure.
Chaib endured two mandatory counts during the bout. However, she reached the final bell before the judges awarded Otieno a unanimous points victory.
Mbithe adds silver as Kenyan finalists compete
Mbithe faced a difficult contest against Mansouri, who gained the upper hand in the first two rounds. Although the Kenyan rallied late in the second round and again in the third, she could not overturn the deficit.
Kenya entered nine boxers in the finals. Other Hit Squad members awaiting their bouts included flyweight Kevin Maina and light middleweight Friza Asiko.
Light heavyweight Elizabeth ‘Jaber’ Akinyi, heavyweight Juliet Opondo and super heavyweight Clinton ‘Abu’ Macharia were also due to compete.
Nigeria and Uganda celebrate gold medals
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Adishola Khadijat won the bantamweight title after defeating Algeria’s Malak Nour Aichoune on unanimous points. She welcomed the result as a positive finish for her country.
Khadijat had earlier beaten Kenya’s Amina Martha in the semi-finals, leaving Martha with bronze. Kenya’s other bronze medallists included Boniface Mogunde, Edwin Okong’o, Steve Onyango, Peter Abuti and Chrispine Ochanda.
Mogunde holds the IBA Africa Boxing Championships light middleweight title, while Okong’o won middleweight gold at the Africa Games.
Uganda also celebrated a breakthrough when Nagawa Vanessa defeated Lesotho’s Rapelang Maselela. A second-round referee stoppage secured the Uganda Bombers’ first gold medal.
