MOROCCO BOOST AFRICA AGAIN IN WOMEN’S WORLD BOXING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Widad Bertal will be Africa’s sole finalist on the last day of Women’s World Boxing Championships on Sunday, March 16 in Serbia.
Bertal’s compatriot, Africa light-heavyweight champion Hasnae Larti, settled for bronze after losing 5-0 to the stronger Russian Saltanat Medonova in the semi-finals.
It’s a repeat of the 2023 Women’s Worlds in New Delhi, India, where Morocco got a bronze and had one finalist, Khadija Mardi who went on to become Africa’s first ever female boxer to win a world title.
In New Delhi, minimumweight Yasmine Mouttaki was Morocco’s bronze medallist.
Africa had nine boxers in the quarter finals in Serbia but it’s only the two Moroccans who made it to the semi-finals.
The 25-year-old Bertal went through a tense moment when her 3-2 win over Serbia’s European champion Sara Cirkovic had to be decided through a Bout Review but she prevailed 4-3, one of the two extra judges scoring in her favour and the one for the Serbian.
Bertal, the reigning African Games champion and two-time Africa champion, now meets Turkish southpaw, Olympic silver medallist and 2022 world champion 23-year-old Hatice Akbar in the finals.
While her credentials place Akbar as the favourite on paper, Bertal has the pedigree to cause an upset and emulate compatriot Mardi to become Africa’s second female world champion.
The Moroccan has been improving with every game since her quarter-final Paris Olympics placing where she decisioned 2022 world flyweight champion and 2023 world bronze medallist Thailand’s Jutamas Jitpong in the round of 16 before losing 4-0 to North Korea’s Pang Chol-mi.
On her way to the final, Hatice Akbas had to dig deep in her reservoir of ring arsenal for a 4-1 victory over Thailand’s southpaw Chongprongklang Natnicha in the semi-finals.
Akbas is joined in the finals by three other compatriots, 2022 world champion and two-time Olympic silver medallist Buse Naz Cakiroglu, two-time world champion and Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Busenaz Surmeli and light-heavyweight Busra Isildar.
