TANZANIA’S hope to win ticket for 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in boxing suffered a huge blow after the country’s last hope Yusuph Changarawe bowed out of African Olympic Q ualifiers in Dakar, Senegal on Tuesday night.
Changarawe vowed that he will fight his way to the Tokyo Olympic Games scheduled to start from July 24th to August 9th this year, but his quest was dashed out after he lost on points to Ghanaian boxer Samed Shakul in a Light heavyweight battle.
In his preliminary round, Changarawe defeated Mauricio Martins from Guinea Bissau and progressed to the quarters of the qualifiers.
On Tuesday, Ghanain Shakul dominated the first and second rounds, while Changarawe dominated the last round.
Initially, three other Tanzanian boxes– Alex Isendi a lightweight (57-63kg) fighter, Boniface Mlingwa a featherweight (52-57kg) and Haruna Mhando a super heavyweight (+ 9 1kg), were all dismissed from the qualifiers after losing their respective bouts in early stages of the qualifiers.
This leaves Tanzanian boxers with only one option that is to attempt the final world qualifying event in Paris, France in May to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic.
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.
