Boxing: Coach Musa agonised by gallant Martha's injury at African Games

Team Kenya boxing head coach Benjamin Musa is hopeful that Amina Martha will recover quickly after dislocating her left shoulder on Friday when during her African Games semi final bout against Nigerian Shurukat Kareem.

The bantamweight 52-54Kgs category bout had to end in round one after the dislocation, as she was rushed to the hospital in Accra, Ghana.

Martha who qualified to the quarter final after defeating Ghana's Apew Sarah, has since won Kenya a bronze medal for finishing third.

“The doctors said that her left shoulder popped out after the contact with his opponent in round one and she had to be rushed to hospital in an ambulance. The scan showed it was a shoulder dislocation.

“Early in the morning she was expected to undergo Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to check if there is any damage in her tissues. We are praying for her to be back on the ring as soon as possible. For now we have to settle for the bronze medal from her, hoping that she will do wonders next time,” Musa explained.

At 9.30pm EAT, Kenya is expected to harvest another medal in boxing arena as Edwin Okong’o will be fighting Algerian Yassin Elouarz in middleweight 75kgs category.

Okongo became the first East African boxer to land in the African Games boxing finals with a unanimous point’s victory over Algerian rookie Ghazli Ahmed, and is set to fight Yassine who saw off Ethiopia’s Neka Temesgen in the other middleweight semi-final.

“We have watched his opponent (Yassin Elouarz) previous bouts and we noted some of his strengths and weaknesses. We have come up with a game plan to ensure we win gold for Kenya. He is physically and mentally fit for the bout,” he added.

A total of four pugilists represented Kenya in 2023 Africa Games in Accra, and three of them so far have been bundled out.

Amina (Bantamweight 54Kgs, 20-year-old Aloice Vincent (Light Welterweight 63.5Kgs), Peter Abuti (Heavyweight 92Kgs) and Okongo constituted the team.

Kenya’s last boxing gold at the games was won by Suleiman Bilali at the 2007 edition in Algiers, Algeria.