▪️Out of the 32 African quarter-finalists in the two-day action only nine squeezed their way to the podium glory
▪️Namibia led Africa with three boxers in semis, followed by Zambia and Lesotho two each, Ghana and Mauritius one apiece
▪️Three African women boxers, Zambia’s Catherine Mwape, Lesotho’s Rapelang Maselela and 18-year-old Namibia’s Mischa Araes make history as the first female Commonwealth Games boxing medallists for their respective countries
▪️Tears and heartbreak for Nigeria, Botswana, Eswatini, Togo, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Seychelles, South Africa and East African boxers as they missed out on podium finish. They return home exactly as they arrived in Glasgow with their luggage. Take heart next time you’ll conquer!!!
July 30, 2026
The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow witnessed a dramatic, hard-hitting quarter-final round as nine African boxers successfully punched their way into the semi-finals, though the road was paved with tears and heartbreak.
Out of 32 African boxers who stepped into the ring on a bruising “bad two days at the office” for the continent, only nine advanced to the final with 23 falling by the wayside in the quarter-finals.
Namibia emerged as the powerhouse of the quarters, leading the African contingent by placing three boxers into the medal rounds followed by their Southern Africa neighbours Zambia and Lesotho with two each. Ghana and Mauritius have one apiece in the crucial Last Four with Merven Clair finally winning a medal in his fourth participation in the Commonwealth Games.
The absolute revelation of the Games was Namibia’s 18-year-old Mischa Monique Araes. Making history with every punch, Araes became the first-ever female Namibian boxer to secure a Commonwealth Games medal. She cruised into the semi-finals with a commanding victory over Sri Lanka’s Nadeeka Ranasinghe, capturing the hearts of boxing fans and announcing herself as a major new talent on the global stage.
There was joy too for Zambia’s bantamweight Catherene Mwape and Lesotho’s featherweight Rapelang Maselela, inscribing their names in the annals of Africa’s boxing history as the first female boxers to win Commonwealth Games boxing medals for their respective countries by powering their way to the semis.
The dismal performance of Nigeria, Africa’s powerhouse in the Club Games, sticks out like a sore thumb with critics of the Nigerian federation accusing the bigwigs of poor selection. None of the six boxers – three men and women – won a single fight but kudos to their three female boxers, Blessing Oraekwe, Patricia Mbata and Kadijat Ajishola for their exemplary display, all of them losing by razor-thin 3-2 decisions.
Oraekwe, the last Nigerian in action in the light-middleweight bout against Australia’s Lekeisha Pergoliti, was on top of her game putting up a splendid show. The result could have gone either way.
“I thought she would be tough but it was easy work for me,” the southpaw Oraekwe told boxersworld.co.ke, blaming the referee for unnecessary warnings while not doing the same to her opponent.
“God knows why the referee chose to favour the Australian boxer, warning me for nothing but didn’t do the same or deduct points for my opponent.”
On the overall performance of the Nigerian team, Oraekwe says: “We all did our best mostly the female boxers but officiating was not good, in any case we’re not the only ones who finished without a medal so I don’t see why there should be any noise on this because in sports today you win tomorrow you lose. We showed this in the African Games in Accra. We’re happy with our federation they’re doing a good job give them time.”
In addition to Nigeria, among other African countries returning home with their luggage only are Botswana, Eswatini, Togo, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Seychelles, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
The first day of the quarters featured 15 African boxers with five advancing to the semis.
In the second quarters, initially Africa had 18 boxers but they were reduced to 17 after Ghana’s light-heavyweight Desmond Pappoe pulled out due to a shoulder injury.
Six out of the seven boxers lost in the first session with Mauritius’ light-middleweight Merven Clair the only winning, outpointing Ghana’s Precious Nettey 5-0.
The six losers were South Africa’s female light-middleweight Samukelisiwe Ncube stopped in the second round by Commonwealth Games defending champion Rosie Eccles of Wales. Ncube visited the canvas twice and at 2:40 the referee waved it off to save the South African from the ruthless fists of Eccles. Botswana’s lightweight Treasure Morema was beaten 5-0 by India’s Sachin Sachin, Lesotho’s light-middleweight Refiloe Thai was KO’d in the first round by Orlando Holley-Sotomi of Wales, Seychelles’ Micock Jade lost 5-0 to India’s Ankush Ankush and Togo’s super-heavyweight Ramzi Salifou went down 5-0 to Nigel Paul of Trinidad & Tobago.
The second session of the quarter-finals on July 29 had 10 boxers with three winning and seven eliminated. Winners were Namibia’s flyweight Mischa Araes and compatriot Tryagain Ndevelo defeating Niall Adams of Guernsey, a self-governing British Crown Dependency and Lesotho’s featherweight Rapelang Maselela who outpointed Tanzania’s Zawadi Kutaka, both bronze medallists in their respective zonal competitions in 2025.
Uganda’s female flyweight Angel Katushabe opened the exit door for the national African boxers going down 5-0 to England’s Ruby White. Others following suit were Kutaka, Nigeria’s Blessing Oraekwe, Zambia’s lightweight Albert Ngulube defeated by Jude Gallagher of Northern Ireland, Kenya’s Robert Okaka aka Man Ngori lost 5-0 to England’s Dimeji Shittu, Ghana’s super-heavyweight Daniel Plange beaten 5-0 by William McCartan of Northern Ireland and in the last bout of the night, the grandson of former Ugandan President Idi Amin, Aziz Abdul, was disqualified in the third round for head-butting his opponent in the third round of their super-heavyweight bout but he was quoted in a BBC report denying he did so.
Here’s the BBC report on Idi Amin’s grandson’s defeat:
The 25-year-old was punished after lifting his head into Damar Thomas’ chin as the pair grappled in the third round.
Abdul later claimed the judges were against him because he is a “black African”.
“When you watch the previous fights of England their boxers create a lot of fouls,” he said.
“I land a heavy punch on him, they never count. Instead of counting they deduct me.
“I am black African. He is in homeland.”
He had earlier said he would become new King of Scotland
After taking power in a coup in 1971, Amin ran a brutal regime during which an estimated half a million people were killed. He was also known as the Butcher of Uganda.
Abdul, who never met his grandfather, was chasing Uganda’s first Commonwealth boxing medal since Auckland in 1990 – something which would have been guaranteed had he beaten Thomas.
Instead, he was given warnings in the previous two rounds and was trailing on all of the judges’ scorecards.
“All I can say about this is the decision is not right, I am not happy,” he said.
“He elbowed me. He caught me with the elbow.
“It [the head movement] was not intentional. I was trying to come back.
“How can I headbutt someone? I would not.
“He was the person they wanted to win. He was the winner before.
“I knew if I did not get knockout I could not win the fight.”
BBC Sport has contacted Commonwealth Games organisers and World Boxing for a response to Abdul’s comments.
Thomas, who is now guaranteed at least a bronze medal, said it was “not the way” he wanted to win.
“I can’t change what happened today but I can control how I box on Friday,” he said.
Amin, himself a boxer, harboured a fascination with Scotland after serving in the King’s African Rifles in his 20s.
In the main light-heavyweight Fight of the Night, Kenya’s Okaka hurt England’s Shittu several times with body blows but Okaka failed to match the expertise of his more exposed opponent.
Head coach Musa Benjamin explains why Okaka lost to Shittu: “I’m disappointed with his performance. He didn’t follow the plan to the letter. He started very slow, very ineffective inside and didn’t put his punches together. Was unable to find his range and rhythm making it easy and comfortable for the English to pile on points.
“It’s now back to the drawing board… be busy with competitions-revival hopefully of regional and continental tournaments and regular training camps.
After the fight, Shittu followed Okaka to their dressing room to congratulate the Kenyan boxer.
“He got hit with some body shots and felt the power he had witnessed in Okaka’s earlier fight.Says he planned to avoid any exchanges,” Musa said, adding: ” He told Okaka he was a tough fighter and he’s now sure of winning gold, he posed for a photo with Okaka to remember our courageous warrior.”
Musa feels lack of regular competitions is the undoing of most African countries.
“As long as we don’t have regular tournaments in Africa, we shall continue lagging behind. The others are very busy throughout the year.
There’s a very thin line between Africa and the rest.”
Okaka may have lost to Shittu but he is walking tall having learned new techniques and conquering Tanzania’s Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Yusuf Changalawe in the East African bragging rights battle.
“As usual I thank God for everything, Shittu told me I was the main barrier to his gold medal plans because he knew he’s meeting a tough opponent,” said the KDF soldier.
“He knew I’m a pressure fighter so he didn’t want to come near me, he was holding then punches lightly and runs away to avoid the power of my punches so whenever I released my punches they were not getting the target as I wanted. He’s an awkward fighter I learned a lot on the tricks of the game.”
In an interview with boxersworld.co.ke, Zambia’s British coach Karl Whalley analysed the defeat of lightweight Albert Ngulube at the hands of Ireland’s Jude Gallagher.
“The boxer that eliminated Albert from the Commonwealth Games was the reigning champion and firm favourite. Our tactic was to keep the contest at long range and use Albert’s strength and fitness to dictate the pace. Despite Albert’s considerable success, against a vastly more experienced boxer, it was the Irishman’s ability to draw Albert into close quarter combat that was ultimately the deciding factor. On paper, few would have given our boxer a fighting chance. The reality was, that a Zambian warrior, with unrealised potential, took the favourite of the competition to a split points decision.
“I have been approached by numerous people, all praising the ability and attitude of the Zambian boxers. Although we came with ambition, very few within the boxing world gave this team a fighting chance. As we now enter the final stages, these young fighters have made history and also represented Zambia with a fierce pride. I know I have been blessed to have been part of this journey, and we now plan to turn the two assured medals into gold.”
Ngulube is now banking on his neighbour, Namibia’s Tryagain Ndevelo, to avenge the defeat when he meets Gallagher in the semi-finals on Friday.
“It won’t be easy for Jude, but he has to go down,” said a confident Ndevelo. “I have seen him and his style, so there will be many adjustments and work to do. I have top coaches in my corner, and one way or another, it has to go down.I will handle him professionally.”
Ndevelo is in high spirits ahead of his semi-final bout: “I’m grateful and appreciate all the support from Africa and Namibia. One down and another to go. I’m glad to pass the stage I ended at last time. Medal guaranteed now it’s still up to me to change the medal colour. Let me not mention which colour it will be but the colour has to change.
While the heavy losses stung the African camps, the remaining nine warriors now stand just two wins away from Commonwealth gold, carrying the boxing hopes of the entire continent on their gloves.
The boxing tournament at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games has reached the medal rounds at the SEC Centre, Hall 5 with the semi-finals officially scheduled for Friday, July 31, 2026.
Every remaining boxer is guaranteed at least a bronze medal, but they will battle for a spot in Saturday’s grand finale. A look at the nine African boxers in the semis:
Men’s Bantamweight & Featherweight
Amadu Mohammed (Ghana) vs. Jye Dixon (Australia): A massive bantamweight clash. Amadu, the African Games gold medallist, advanced by outpointing England’s Ellis Trowbridge, while the hard-hitting Australian Jye Dixon advanced via a second-round stoppage. Barring biased decision, the Ghanaian warrior will sail through to the finals
Philip Pumulo Haoseb (Namibia) vs. Jadumani Mandengbam Singh (India): A pure tactical battle in the Men’s 55kg semi-finals. India’s Jadumani Singh reached this stage following a dominant 5-0 unanimous decision over Pakistan’s Sumama Rehman. He has a head start over the Namibian.
Tryagain Ndevelo (Namibia) vs. Jude Gallagher (Northern Ireland): An elite 60kg Lightweight showdown. The experienced Tryagain Ndevelo is seeking his first major Games title on his third attempt, while Jude Gallagher—the reigning Commonwealth featherweight champion—enters after a razor-thin 3-2 split-decision win over Zambia’s Albert Ngulube. Gallagher has met his match. Tactical Ndevelo will march on.
Men’s Welterweight & Light-Middleweight
Emmanuel Katema vs. Patris Mughalzai (England): A technical chess match testing tactical precision. England’s deep boxing squad is heavily favored to use slick distance management. Katema will prevail.
Pooana Khoahli (Lesotho) vs. Jacob Kassar (Australia): A brutal test of work rate and endurance. Expect heavy mid-ring exchanges as both try to assert physical dominance. Either way depending on the work rate of each boxer.
Merven Clair (Mauritius) vs. Connor Williams (Wales): A veteran showcase. The highly motivated Connor Williams has already secured a historic first boxing medal for Wales at these Games and looks to continue his dream run. Not an easy one for Merven. He must rise up to the occasion.
Women’s Flyweight, Bantamweight & Featherweight
Catherine Mwape (Zambia) vs. Preeti Preeti (India): A high-octane 54kg bantamweight speed duel. The sharp 2022 Asian Games bronze medallist and 2025 World Boxing Cup gold medallist, Preeti Pawar, presents a formidable pacing challenge for Mwape not to mention her vast international exposure against the naturally gifted Zambian.
Mischa Monique Araes (Namibia) vs. Ruby White (England): A historic 51kg quarter-final and semi-final crossover. England’s 19-year-old rising star, Ruby White, booked her podium position after a dominant unanimous decision victory over Uganda’s Angel Katushabe and is favoured to advance.
Rapelang Maselela (Lesotho) vs. Jasmine Jasmine (India): A monumental 57kg technical test. Indian Olympian Jaismine Lamboria punched her ticket to this round by handily dismantling England’s Elise Glynn 4-1. Jasmine takes it clean.
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