Triple wins for Karanja, Abuti and Anyango as Hit Squad dig deep in Olympic Qualifiers

Kenya’s national boxing team - Hit Squad - on Monday 12 September continued with their decent start to the Paris 2024 Olympics Boxing Africa Qualifiers in Dakar, Senegal as they registered a sweeping three victories in their four bouts on the day.

Having endured ‘a tough day in the office’ as per team head coach Musa Benjamin on Sunday, Kenya got off to a bright start in the day’s morning session when heavyweight boxer Peter Abuti registered a comfortable victory over Em Abdellatif of Egypt.

The Kenyan national champion, who also won bronze in the recently concluded Africa Boxing Championships in Yaounde, Cameroon, won all five rounds of the fight, securing himself a spot in Thursday’s men’s 92kg semifinals.

“Huge thanks to God for this win,” Abuti told BFK shortly after his win. “I felt like I had an advantage from the get-go because my opponent was very weak and I pounced on him early. Gave him no chance.”

Up next for him will be up against Julio Gabriel of Mozambique, who also secured a 5-0 win by points against Freddy Londji of Gabon.

High-flying flyweight David Karanja was not left behind in the Kenyan party as he once again showed his class en route to a points victory (3-2 on rounds) over Namibia’s Tuuyen Johannes in the men’s 51kg round of 32 bouts.

Hit Squad boxers shine in opening day of Olympic Qualifiers

The win for the Africa Boxing Championships bronze medalist was his second in Dakar, coming hot on the heels of another dominant performance against Thibaut Justin Ngbandamale of Central Africa Republic on Referee Stop Contest round 1 ( RSC).

Ahead of him will be a quarter-final matchup against Eddine Zidi of Tunisia on Wednesday 13 September.

Kenya’s last win came in the first bout of the afternoon session as welterweight boxer Frizah Anyango beat Cheick Mbaye on Referee Stop Contest in Round 2, booking a place in the women’s 66kg quarterfinals on Wednesday evening.

In the evening session and bout 176, Anyango will face Brigitte Mbabi Tsheusi of Ivory Coast.

The only blemish on Monday came in the nature of a Pauline Chege Women's 57kg round of 16 defeat at the hands of Mariatou Diallo of Senegal, where she lost 2-3 on points.

On Monday however, Kenya saw four of their boxers lose out and effectively suffer elimination from the qualifiers as Christine Ongare, Amina Martha, Boniface Mugunde and Ethan Maina suffered defeats in their respective bouts.