Boxing: 2nd AIBA African Olympic qualification tournament-No luck for Seychellois pugilists |28 March 2008
Of the five boxers, Estrale produced one of the best performances in the preliminary round of the featherweight (57kg) division but lost a close bout on points – 14-15 – to Bendit Makanila-Vela of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Having moved up a category for the qualifier, Dave César did not last long in the ring in his bantamweight (54 kg) bout against Mauritian Bruno Julie as he was knocked out in the second round.
Jean-Paul Mellie lost his first-round lightweight (60kg) bout on points – 2-10 – to Nigerian Rasheed Lawal.
In the light welterweight division (64kg), Nigel Benoit did not go the distance of four rounds of two minutes each as he lost by RSCH (Referee Stopped Contest Head) in the third round to Ghanaian Samuel Kotey.
The only Seychellois boxer in action on Wednesday was Alvin Gabriel in the welterweight (69kg) division and he was up against Moroccan Mehdi Khalsi in the quarterfinal after having received a bye. The southpaw bowed out of the competition with a 3-11 loss.
The semifinals were to be contested yesterday with the finals scheduled for today.
A total of 29 boxers will qualify from Namibia, filling Africa's quota of 60 boxers to the prestigious quadrennial games. Only two African boxers got Beijing berths at the Chicago AIBA World Championship last year and another 29 made it from the 1st AIBA African Olympic Qualification Tournament in Algeria in January.
It is worth noting that during the first AIBA African Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Algeria, in January, Jean-Paul Mellie lost his 60-kg preliminary round bout 3-26 to Namibian Julius Indongo and Dave César was out-pointed 4-20 by Ethiopian Getachew Molla in the quarterfinal after having received a bye.
Kitson Julie, Seychelles’ top candidate for the Olympics and the country’s only qualifier at the last Olympics in Athens, Greece in 2004 after winning the 64-kg gold medal at the Africa Championship in Gaborone, Botswana, did not make the trip to Namibia after being handed a three-month ban by the Seychelles Amateur Boxing Federation.
G. G.