Andiego storms Africa Olympic Qualifiers finals in Senegal

Middleweight boxer Elizabeth Andiego during the team's training session at Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani.[Stafford Ondego,Standard]

Africa Zone Three heavyweight gold medallist Elizabeth Andiego has qualified for the finals of Africa Olympic Qualifiers after she defeated Tunisian Molka Mabrouk in a tensioned packed middleweight semifinal match at Dakar Arena in Senegal on Thursday.

Andiego who’s the team captain of ‘The Hit Squad’ and the most experienced player in the team picked a unanimous points decision over Mabrouk.

The victory enhanced her chances of making it to the Paris Olympics in France next year.

The frequency of jabs by Andiego that landed on target was too much for her opponent to defend, a development that allowed the judges to give the Kenyan female boxer the bragging rights to win the match overwhelmingly.

Speaking before her semifinal match, Andiego said “We are here for serious business after a good training session in Havana, Cuba. Our coaches worked on us extensively. We came here for nothing but to pick our Olympic tickets,”.

She will now face world champion Khadija Mardi of Morocco in the finals tomorrow.

It will be the second time the two boxers will be facing off this year after they met in the opening round at the World Boxing Championships in New Delhi, India in April, a match, which Mardi won.

By winning the middleweight title against the world champion, Andiego will book her third Olympic ticket having taken part in the 2012 London Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Japan.