Kenya began her gold hunt in boxing with mixed results in the ongoing All Africa games on Monday evening
Nick Okoth won 2-0 in his bout in the lightweight category against a strong Gabonese opponent while Benson Gisharu had to fight it out up to the third round to edge his opponent in the bantamweight category.
Gicharu started it a bit late in the second round to progress to the next stage on a 3-0 score. Victor Odhiambo lost in the light welterweight after sustaining a deep head cut early in the game. The second casualty in the ‘Hit Squad’ was Black Moses Mathenge, who narrowly lost 2-1 to an Ethiopian boxer in a closely contested encounter.
The rest of the bouts are expected continue all through the week with weigh in sessions in the morning and games later in the evening.
In swimming three Kenyan three swimmers made it into the finals yesterday but were all unsuccessful at the Aquatic Centre Kitere. In the 100m women’s free style Sylvia Brunlehner came in eighth in a time of 28.53 seconds in an event won by Osman Farida in 26.73 seconds.
The second Kenyan finalist in the women’s 50m backstroke Talisa Lanoe wasn’t any lucky either, coming home eighth in a time of 31.86 seconds. The gold medal went to Ashley Cooper from South Africa in 29.06 seconds. Hamdan Bayusuf registered the best position among the three with a personal best of 27.21 in a competition won by Egyptian.
Swimming continues today with Kenya’s Issah Abdula and Edward Ilako contesting in the men’s 100m freestyle. Talisa Lanoe and Anita Field will feature in the women’s the100m backstroke while Emmanuel Ndong will take part in 200m backstroke. Natasha Oduor Owino and Olympic-bound Rebeca Kamau will fight it out in the 50m breast women.
