Four Kenyans in semis at African Boxing Champs

Four Kenyans will enter the ring later Thursday to compete for a place in the finals of the African Championship at the African Boxing Championships in Maputo, Mozambique.

Featherweight pugilist Samuel Njau will face Zambia's Ben Banda in the semi-finals while defending champion Nick Okoth will have his first real test in Walid Tarzout from Algeria in the lightweight category.

Boniface Mugunde will fight against the Moroccan Hamza El Barbari in the (light-middleweight) while the only female Kenyan boxer Elizabeth Andiego will face off with Mkateko Sithole from South Africa in the (light heavy) semi.

Nick Okoth eliminated Zambia’s Jean Jerry Agathe on points in their three-round lightweight contest while Bonface Mugunde proved too good for Somalia’s Abdullahi Mohammed in the first round of their light middleweight bout.

Njau defeated Guinea’s Doumbuya Badra in their men’s featherweight contest while Elizabeth Andiego got a bye to the semi after low entry in her heavy weight category.

Among the 27 nations taking part in the championship Kenya sent a total of 13 boxers, 9 male and 3 female in the 20th edition of the African boxing championship which ends Sunday.

Big Kenyan names that fell out in the preliminaries include Christine Ongare,Shaffi Bakari,David Karanja and Faki Amina Martha.

Gold medalist will bag Sh1,204,000 ($10,000), silver medallists Sh602,000 ($5000) and bronze medallists Sh301,000 ($2500 ) in the premier annual showpiece that will end on September 18.