Nick Okoth punches his way into semis, Ongare and Akinyi exit

Kenya’s Nick “Commander” Okoth is through to the semi-finals of Konstantin Kototkov Memorial boxing tournament in Khabarovsk, Russia.

Okoth chalked a unanimous points decision win against Sergey Kishko from Ukraine in the featherweight bout on Thursday. All the five judges scored 29-28, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27 and 30-27 respectively in Okoth’s favour.

Okoth will now meet home boxer Ovik Oganisyan for a place in the final on Friday where another Kenyan Elly Ajowi will take on Mamadiyar Saydrahimov from Uzbekistan in the super heavyweight quarter-finals.

Okoth’s victory came moments after Commonwealth flyweight bronze medalist Christine Ongare and national bantamweight champion Elizabeth Akinyi were bundled out in the first round of their respective bouts.

Ongare lost to Diana Garishnaya from Estonia in an unanimous points decision while Akinyi encountered a similar fate at the hands of Maria Moronto from the Dominican Republic.

The International Boxing Association (AIBA) is using the championships to prepare Tokyo Olympic-bound boxers.

The government and the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) have facilitated the trip.

“Though our girls' run ended at the preliminaries, they got a feel of the level of boxing they should expect at the Olympics,” said a statement from Boxing Federation of Kenya. “This is a learning experience that will guide their Olympic preparation.”

While Okoth and Ongare qualified for Olympics after winning silver and bronze medals respectively in the Africa leg of the qualifiers held February 2020 in Dakar, Senegal, Ajowi and Akinyi benefited from wild cards from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in March.

Kenya was represented by three boxers at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games; Peter Mungai who reached the quarterfinals in light flyweight, Rayton Okwiri, who reached the round of 16 in welterweight and bantamweight Benson Gicharu, who lost in the first round.