Ongare's Olympics hopes on the ropes after preliminary round exit in Italy
Reading Time: 2min | Mon. 04.03.24. | 09:45
Ongare in September last year also suffered the same fate - a first round exit - as she got knocked out on Day Two of the Boxing Africa Qualifiers in Dakar, Senegal
Kenya’s pain of getting at least one boxer to feature in the forthcoming Paris 2024 Olympic Games seemed to persist further Sunday evening, as 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Christine Ongare suffered defeat in her preliminary round bout against Chinese Taipei’s Guo Yi-xuan in Italy.
Ongare, 30, was last week named in a field of six Hit Squad boxers taking part in the Olympic Games 1st World Qualification Tournament in Busto Arsizio, but her journey to what could have been a second appearance in the Summer Games seems to have taken a big hit.
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The national flyweight champion in her Round of 64 fight ended up on the receiving end of a 5-0 judges’ scorecard in Yi-Xuan’s favor (29-28, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27) as her run came to an end here, with a last shot at May's tournament in Bangkok still on the cards.
Ongare in September last year also suffered the same fate - a first round exit - as she got knocked out on Day Two of the Paris 2024 Olympics Boxing Africa Qualifiers in Dakar, Senegal.
All hope is not lost however, as five other Kenyan boxers are still on deck in the tournament.
No Kenyan takes to the ring on Monday, but action will get busy beginning Tuesday 5 March when team skipper and light middleweight Boniface Mugunde takes on Knezevic Petar Kresimir from Croatia in another Round of 64 preliminary bout.
The duo of David Karanja (flyweight) and Shaffi Bakari (featherweight) as per the schedule, have received preliminary round byes, and will feature in the Round of 32 stages.
There, Karanja is set to meet 2021 World Champion and Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Bibossinov Saken of Kazakhstan.
As for Bakari, he will play the winner between Rustamov Umid from Azerbaijan and Alzahmi Nawwaf from the United Arab Emirates.
Skipper Elizabeth Andiego, the only other boxer who had an Olympics appearance on her belt, will feature on Wednesday 6 March against Stonkute Gabriele from Lithuania in the Round of 32.
Welterweight Frizah Anyango will on the other hand wait till 8 March when she takes the ring against Guatemala’s Chiroy Maria in another Round of 32 clash.
