Any hopes Kenya had of scooping gold medals in the Konstantin Korotkov Memorial International boxing Championships in Russia went up in smoke after Hit Squad captain Nick Okoth and Africa Zone 3 Championship gold medalist Elly Ajowi crushed out on Friday.
Okoth lost to Russian Ovik Oganisyan on a unanimous points decision in the semi-finals of the 57kg, while heavyweight Ajowi bowed out in the quarterfinals. Both fights took place at Lenina Regional Sports Complex in the city of Khabarovsk
All five judges gave Oganisyan a total victory of 30-27, 30-26, 30-27, 30-27, and 30-28.
Ajowi's opponent Saidrahimov cruised on the back of 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, and 30-27 win to book a date with Lazizbek Mullozhonov of Uzbekistan.
Okoth said he thought for a moment he had won the bout, adding he has nonetheless conceded defeat honourably.
“I’ve lost the game on a unanimous points decision, but that's not what I had hoped for. I had an opportunity to watch my opponent before our bout and I had studied him well enough.
“I overwhelmed him in the first round but I slackened a bit in the second round thus giving him a chance to pick up. However, I’m convinced I, undoubtedly, thrashed him in the third round.
“I can't complain much about the decision made by the judges. My wish was to finish off my opponent but then the judges saw things differently.
“I thank God for bringing me this far. At least I won't be leaving empty-handed. Like I've always said, gold is better than silver, silver is better than bronze and bronze is better than nothing.
Okoth said he is confident the experience he has gathered in Russia will enable him to perform well at the forthcoming Tokyo Olympics.
“Our main focus in this tournament is to prepare well enough for the Tokyo Olympics in July and I believe we'll collect enough experience to enable us to compete effectively at the games,” said Okoth.
Hit Squad head coach Benjamin Musa said the outcome was not what they had expected or even hoped for.
“The outcome caught us by surprise given we were convinced Nick had dominated the first and third rounds of the bout. However, he slackened a little bit in the second round and gave his opponent an opportunity to come back into the fight.
“All in all, we are satisfied Nick got a chance to participate in this kind of competition and we have used his performance to identify a couple of things he needs to work on, especially if he happens to come up against a south pole boxer like he did today.
“We noticed he struggled a lot getting in and out of range and we need to rectify the situation,” said Musa.
Commonwealth Games flyweight bronze medalist Christine Ongare and national welterweight champion Elizabeth Akinyi, bowed out of the tournament in the preliminaries.
