Andiego beaten again as Kenya finishes tenth at Olympics qualifiers

Kenya's Elizabeth Andiego (right) in a past bout against Elif Guneri of Turkey. [File]

After Africa Zone Three heavyweight gold medallist Elizabeth Andiego was beaten in the middleweight finals of Africa Olympic Qualifiers in Dakar Arena, Senegal on Friday, her journey to qualify for 2024 Paris Olympic Games has not ended.

Just like she qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Andiego’s journey to the Paris Olympics will be pegged on two factors.

First, she will have to try her luck in the first two legs of World Olympic Qualifiers to be hosted in France, early next year and whose contestants will be losers of their continental qualifiers.

Lastly, Andiego will bank her hopes on her Africa and global rankings that could earn her a wild card to the big games, just the same way she earned her ticket to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Andiego was stopped by Mardi Khadija of Morocco in the finals that resulted in her winning a silver medal at the week-long games that selected 18 Africa’s representatives for next year's global showpiece.

Andiego’s silver medal landed Kenya in the 10th position, same to Ethiopia, Mauritius and Tanzania, all who won each won a silver medal in different weight categories.

The event was won by Algeria who won four gold and two silver and three bronze medals ahead of Nigeria who posted three gold and three bronze medals.

Coming third was Morocco with two gold, one silver and three bronze medals while Egypt and Tunisia finished fourth and fifth with two gold and one silver and one gold, a silver and a bronze medals respectively.

Despite Andiego winning the silver medal, she didn’t qualify for the Paris Olympics since it was only in the middleweight that only required a gold medallist to be the only qualifier as opposed to other weight-categories whose silver medallists automatically made it to the games.