Andiego carries Kenya's final hopes in Olympics Boxing Qualifiers semifinal

2022 Africa Boxing Championships and team captain Elizabeth Andiego will be Kenya’s only hope in the ongoing Paris 2024 Olympics Boxing Africa Qualifiers in Dakar, Senegal after securing a pivotal semifinals spot on Wednesday 13 September at the Dakar Arena.

Making her first appearance in the competition having sat out via byes, Andiego secured a convincing win on points over Ghanaian Ornella Sathoud.

The Kenyan won all rounds 5-0, meaning that she only has one hurdle left to secure a 2024 Paris Olympics ticket for her first time since becoming the first Kenyan woman to make the summer games in 2012.

Up next for her will be Tunisian opponent Molka Ben, who also got a 5-0 points win over Dieng Ndiaye of Senegal on Tuesday.

On the other side of the women’s 75kg semi finals draw will be World champion Khadija Mardi who edged out reigning Mozambican African gold medallist Rady Gramane in an exciting quarter final bout on Wednesday.

She faces British based Nigerian Patricia Mbata in Thursday’s semifinal.

Wednesday was however not a similar day of such highs for the other Kenyans in action, as they all succumbed in their bouts hence suffering elimination.

National champion Teresiah Wanjiru was the first victim as she couldn’t get past the first round of her women’s 60kg semifinal bout against Cynthia Ogunsemilore of Nigeria, the referee stopping the contest early on.

Triple wins for Karanja, Abuti and Anyango as Hit Squad dig deep in Olympic Qualifiers

A similar occurrence ensued in the men’s super heavyweight quarterfinals when Fredrick Ramogi, who was making his first appearance in Dakar, suffered a first round stoppage from Mohamed Firisse of Morocco via RSC.

Peter Abuti, still buzzing off a round of 16 comfortable victory over Em Abdellatif of Egypt, saw his journey come to an end thanks to a painful 3-2 points defeat on rounds to Julio Gabriel of Mozambique.

In the evening session, the last two Kenyan representatives in Frizah Anyango and high flying flyweight boxer David Karanja, couldn’t build on their hot hands from Monday, as they also joined the list of exits.

Anyango suffered a 5-0 points loss to Brigitte Mbabi of Ivory Coast in the women’s 66kg quarterfinals while Karanja won only one round against his opponent, Eddine Zidi of Tunisia in a 4-1 score in the men’s 51kg quarterfinals.