Andiego one step from punching Paris Olympics ticket
Kenyan boxer Elizabeth Andiego trains at the National Exhibition Centre in West Midlands, Birmingham, on July 26, 2022, ahead of the Commonwealth Games.
What you need to know:
- Andiego, 37, was the Kenyan boxer standing at the qualifiers as five of her compatriots fell in the quarter-finals.
- Andiego, a former taekwondo player, must beat El-Mardi to make it to Paris since it's only the women's middleweight contest where only one boxer will be considered.
The 2022 Africa heavyweight silver medallist, Kenya's Elizabeth Andiego is a step away from qualifying to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Andiego inched closer to making to her second appearance at the Olympics when she overwhelmed Tunisia's teenager Molka Mabrouk in their middleweight semi-final contest of the ongoing 2024 Paris Olympics Africa qualifying boxing tournament in Dakar, Senegal.
The victory saw Andiego set up a winner-takes-all bout with Moroccan world heavyweight champion Khadija El-Mardi.
This will be the third time Andiego is facing El-Mardi in less than two years with both meetings taking place at the 2022 and 2023 Africa Boxing Confederation Championships.
Andiego, who made history as the first Kenyan woman boxer to feature at the Olympics during the 2012 London Games, lost to El-Mardi, who is also the Africa heavyweight champion, in both occasions.
Andiego was simply supreme as she took advantage of her reach and power to punish Mabrouk with heavy punches.
E-Mardi beat Nigeria's Patricia Mbata to set up the final clash with Andiego.
Andiego and El-Mardi met in the Africa final in 2022 in Maputo where she lost before also going down to the Moroccan in the semi-finals in Yaounde in August this year.
Andiego, 37, was the Kenyan boxer standing at the qualifiers as five of her compatriots fell in the quarter-finals.
Andiego, a former taekwondo player, must beat El-Mardi to make it to Paris since it's only the women's middleweight contest where only one boxer will be considered.
The rest of the five weight categories will have two boxers each meaning all the finalists are through to Paris.
Fredrick Ramogi (Super heavyweight), Peter Abuti (Heavyweight), David Karanja (flyweight), Friza Anyango (welterweight) and Teresia Wanjiru (light welterweight) lost their quarter-final bouts on Wednesday.
All the winners in men's seven weight categories will make it to Paris Summer Games.
