Prime
Simbwa ends East Africa's Olympic hopes in Bangkok
There is no joy yet for Uganda.
What you need to know:
Bangkok being the last qualifying tournament, East Africa's Paris Olympic hopes are almost over. And this could be the first time the entire region misses qualifying for Olympic boxing since the 50s.
Heavyweight boxer Regarn Simbwa was by Thursday the last East African boxer remaining in the second World Olympic Qualifiers in Bangkok, Thailand after defeating Hungarian Koppany Feher by unanimous decision in the Round of 32.
The Ugandan boxer based in Australia needed two more victories to land the coveted ticket to the Paris 2024 Olympics.
But his next bout was by all means a tough one despite Simbwa carrying the hopes of an entire East African region after six Kenyans and one Tanzanian dropped out.
In the Round of 16 bout, Simbwa, though older, came with just seven wins and four losses, against American Jamar Talley, who at 24 had won 34 bouts and lost 13. No wonder, after the three rounds, the hugely experienced Talley won 5-0.
Hence, all Uganda's three boxers were out after 2017 African champion Muzamir Kakande and Tokyo 2020 Olympian Musa Shadir Bwogi lost instantly. |
Bangkok being the last qualifying tournament, East Africa's Paris Olympic hopes are almost over. And this could be the first time the entire region misses qualifying for Olympic boxing since the 50s.
Interestingly, Talley also succumbed 5-0 to Georgia's professional Georgii Kushitashvili, who won 98 of his 116 amateur fights at just 28 years.
Paris 2024 will host the least number of African boxers in a long time, mainly due to a very restrictive qualifying pathway in which the International Olympic Committee gave Africa just 18 slots in the continental qualifier in Dakar, Senegal last September.
The African boxers never helped themselves when all the 68 flopped at the 1st World Qualifier in Busto Arsizio, Italy in March.
The going hasn't been smooth in Bangkok, with over 60 African Africans eliminated, but at least by Sunday morning, two more had booked their tickets to Paris, bringing the number of Africans to 20.
DR Congo's Brigitte Mbabi stopped Cape Verde's Ivanusa Morreira in the third round of the all-Africa welterweight quarterfinal to become the 19th African to book a place in Paris.
Flyweight David Pina avenged Morreira's loss by defeating Iran's Mahdi Parvzi 5-0 to become the 20 African and the first Cape Verde boxer to qualify for Paris 2024.
World Olympic qualifiers in Thailand
Uganda's results
Regarn Simbwa 0-5 Jamar Talley (USA)
Regarn Simbwa 5-0 Koppany Feher (Hungary)
Musa Shadir Bwogi 2-3 Nekruz Saimov (Tajikistan)
Muzamir Kakande 0-5 Jorge Cuellar (Cuba)
