Kenyan boxers stopped in semis-finals

Flyweight Christine Ongare, boxing team Kenya-Hit squad. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Four Kenyan boxers won bronze after their march to the finals of the Africa Boxing Championships was abruptly stopped by their opponents in Yaounde, Cameroon on Thursday.

The quartet was minimumweight Christine Ongare (pictured), bantamweight Amina Martha, bantamweight Hassan Shaffi Bakari and heavyweight Peter Abuti.

One of the boxers bowed out on medical grounds after doctors ruled him out of his semifinal contest.

Africa Zone Three bantamweight gold medallist Hassan Shaffi Bakari retired on health reasons against Azoui Imad of Mauritius.

“Doctors ruled that Bakari was unfit to take the ring owing to health grounds and we had no choice on that. He lives to fight another day,” said Boxing Federation of Kenya Communication Director Duncan Kuria.

National bantamweight champion Amina Martha admitted having lost to a better opponent after her punches failed to reach the target.

“I tried my level best but my punches never hit the target. Things never worked for me. I hope to improve on this before the next international assignment,” Martha told Standard Sports.

Martha was beaten by Fatma Hedjala Zohra of Algeria who won a silver medal when the event was hosted in Maputo, Mozambique last year.

Ongare who won a bronze medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia was beaten on unanimous points’ decision by Mouttaki Yasmine of Mauritius.

On his part, heavyweight Peter Abuti was beaten by Olaore Adams of Nigeria on points.

As a result, all the four Kenyan losing semifinalists won bronze medals and will pocket a cash prize of USD 5000 (Sh711,814).

Gold medallists win 15,000 US dollars and silver medallists 10,000 US dollars.