▪️Out of the nine African boxers eliminated in the quarters, seven are from North Africa plus Kenya’s Sonia Atieno and Senegal’s Soda Faye. Four African boxers are in the semi-finals
▪️A total of 58 African boxers have so far been eliminated from the Futures Cup U19 tournament in Bangkok
March 13, 2026
The North African juggernaut was finally checked in the quarter-finals of the Futures Cup U19 tournament on Friday, March 13, 2026.
A total of 12 African boxers – 10 of them from North Africa – were in the quarter-finals. The other two were Kenya’s Sonia Atieno and Senegal’s Soda Faye, both in the 65 kg.
Three Moroccans who moved to the semis are
men’s 70kg Marouane Jaafri, women’s 51kg Rihab Hamdoune and women’s 65 kg Aya Essoubai while seven North Africans – two Egyptians and Moroccans and three Algerians – lost in the quarters.
In all, four African boxers are in the semis. The three Moroccans join Senegal’s middleweight Mairame Sow who made it to the semi-finals without throwing a punch because there were only four female boxers in the middleweight category.
Senegal’s woeful performance continued unabated with African Youth Games silver medallist Soda Faye stopped in the first round by Uzbekistan’s Sevara Mamatova and Kenya’s Sonia Atieno went down fighting against Morocco’s Aya Essouane who resorted to holding the Kenyan boxer in this scappy affair.
Sonia and flyweight Ellah Demesi were the most impressive Kenyans, both finishing their fights while male boxers, lightweight Phelix Ochieng and bantamweight Brian Arianda were stopped in the first round.
Focus is now on the National Olympic Committee of Kenya to decide on the boxing quotas for the Dakar Youth Olympics.
Full results Day Six Futures Cup U19 in Bangkok, Thailand, March 13, 2026
Q/Finals female 60kg
Egypt’s Menatalla Ibrahim lost China’s Jiaen Wangu RSC
Q/Final female 54 kg
Egypt’s Hajer Wahba lost USA’s Guadalupe Ruiz RSC
Q/Final men 55kg
Morocco’s Ziyad El Khaddari lost 4-1 to Japan’s Ryusei Kitamura
Q/Final men 70kg
Morocco’s Marouane Jaafri beat Ukraine’s Mykyta Koval 5-0
Q/Final female 65kg
Senegal’s Soda Faye was stopped in the first round by Uzbekistan’s Sevara Mamatova after receiving three counts
Q/Final female 51 kg
Morocco’s Rihab Hamdoune beat Poland’s Natasza Kosiec 5-0
Q/Final female 57 kg
Algeria’s Besma Bahri lost 4-0 to Kazakhstan’s Aknur Tursyngali
Q/Final female 65kg
Kenya’s Sonia Atieno lost 4-0 to Morocco’s Aya Essoubai
Q/Final men 65kg
Morocco’s Houssam Boucheta lost 5-0 USA’s Asaan Jenkins
Q/Final men 75kg
Algeria’s Mohamed Moncef lost 5-0 to Uzbekistan’s Suhrob Rakhmatullaev
Q/Final men 80kg
Algeria’s Abdelmadjid Hovari lost 4-1 to Kyrgyzstan’s Usman Kaparov
