NINE DAUGHTERS OF AFRICA LAND IN QUARTER-FINALS
The battle for cash, prestige and personal glory is approaching it’s crescendo with nine beautiful daughters of Africa doing the continent proud by punching their way to the quarter-finals of the Women’s World Boxing Championships in Serbia on Wednesday, March 12.
It’s now do-or-die as they’re now just one step away from the medal bracket.
The latest qualifiers to the quarters-finals after the round of 16 bouts on Wednesday are three Moroccans, minimumweight Rabab Cheddar, flyweight Imane El Azami and light -middleweight Saida Lahmidi, and London-based Nigerian African Games middleweight champion Patricia Mbata.
The boxer said The Nigeria Boxing Federation gave her the greenlight to take part in the IBA Tournament despite the federation’s decision to move to world boxing.
“Nigeria boxing federation authorised me to participate in this competition formally,” the middleweight champion told boxersworld.co.ke. “I am working with my boxing federation and they are fully aware of my movements.”
Mbata and the rest of the quarter-finalists are already assured of $10,000 each for reaching the quarters. This is the newly-introduced prize money for quarter-finalists by IBA. The semi-finalists will earn $25,000, silver medalists $50,000 and a whopping $100,000 for gold medalists.
In Wednesday’s last 16 bouts, minimumweight Rabab Cheddar outpointed Mexico’s Galicia Gomez, Patricia Mbata was fully stretched by Vasiliki Stavridou of Greece before winning on points, Imane El Azami beat Spain’s Meron Gutierrez 5-0 and Saida Lahmidi stopped Uzbekstan’s Oysha Toirova in 44 seconds of the third round.
The going has not been smooth for the inexperienced and poorly prepared Kenyan girls as two more fell by the wayside, leaving light-heavyweight Liz Andiego to soldier on as the only remaining Kenyan in the tournament.
Flyweight Lencer Akinyi, making her international debut, was stopped in one minute 18 seconds of round one by Serbia’s Dragana Jovanovic while featherweight Pauline Chege, appearing in the World Championships for the second time, was stopped in the second round by Tajikistan’s Asian champion Mijgona Samadova.
A total of 15 boxers from Africa have so far been shown the door. They can now enjoy boxing from the terraces cheering their compatriots and also learning from accomplished boxers on how to excel in the prestigious Women’s World Championships. By now they know winning a medal in this highly competitive tournament is not a walk in the park.
Photos courtesy of IBA
