WITH three boxers beaten and dumped out of the 2020 African Olympic Qualifiers ongoing at Dakar, Senegal, Tanzania still hope to win at least one ticket to the Tokyo Olympics.
Alex Isendi a lightweight (57-63kg) fighter, Boniface Mlingwa a featherweight (52-57kg) and Haruna Mhando a super heavyweight (+ 91kg), have all been dismissed from the qualifiers after losing their respective bouts.
However, the national boxing team Head Coach, David Yombayomba, is determined the remaining boxer, Yusuph Changarawe will fight his way to the Tokyo Olympic Games scheduled to start from July 24th to August 9th this year.
Yombayomba said the objective is to return home with a gold medal after Changarawe defeated Mauricio Martins from Guinea Bissau and progressed to the semifinals of the qualifiers.
However, this requires Changarawe’s efforts to win his next bout set for last night against Samed Shakul from Ghana in a Light heavyweight (75-81kg).
Changarawe won by unanimous decision from the five judges. He dominated his second and third rounds with clever foot work, clear punches and strong guard that blocked every punch thrown towards him.
“He is at this point where the medals are coming out, but our priority is not a thirdplace winner; our priority is the first-place winner.
Our priority is to win a gold medal,” Yombayomba said.
Giving an assessment of his performance during the fight, Changarawe said he picked up as the fight progresses.
“In the first round, I was more like a student. I was weighing him up, studying his moves and then I exploded and exploited his weaknesses in the second and third rounds.
As the Tanzanian champion I am carrying the hopes of the nation here,” Changarawe told the press at Dakar. He also expressed how happy he is to win the bout as his victory was for the entire nation.
“My success will not just be for me but for the country and the sport of boxing in Tanzania that needs a positive story.”
“This was only my second international competition after competing at a Military championship last year in China. So I am relatively new but confident,” he said.
There are 33 places at the Tokyo Olympics available in Dakar, whereas 22 chances are for men and 11 are for women.
Any boxer who reaches the final is guaranteed an Olympic place and a third place will be decided by a box off between two losing semi-finalists.
There will be one more chance to qualify for Tokyo 2020 at the final world qualifying event in Paris in May.
Whereas three of our boxers Alex Isendi, Boniface Mlingwa and Haruna Mhando a super heavyweight will be making yet another attempt to qualify.
