Nigeria’s Ridwan Raheem has reached the final of the men’s 65kg category at the African Elite Men’s and Women’s Boxing Championships in Nairobi, Kenya, after beating Rwanda’s Niyonzima Pacifique on points in the semi-final on Wednesday.
His victory makes him the fifth Nigerian boxer to reach a final, keeping the country’s hopes of multiple gold medals alive. The others are Ajishola Khadijat, Precious Anine, Blessing Orakwe and Patricia Mbata.
The run is a turnaround for Nigeria’s 10-member contingent, which lost five bouts early in the tournament.
Aishat Gbadamosi, Abdulramon Abdulwahab, Emmanuel Chuwuka and Kenneth Anigboro lost to opponents from Algeria, Egypt, Kenya and Uganda respectively on Sunday, and some of the decisions drew complaints about officiating.
Raheem began the revival on Monday by beating Algeria’s Ismail Bekhsis. Before that bout, he said he would win convincingly to leave no room for “any kind of controversial decision”.
Khadijat then won 5-0 against Kenya’s Amina Martha in the women’s 51-54kg category, while Anine beat Egypt’s Ayyad Yomna 5-0 in the women’s 60-65kg semi-final.
Orakwe stopped Uganda’s Aiwine Diana in the first round of the women’s 75-80kg category. Mbata had already qualified.
Attention now turns to converting the five final appearances into gold medals.
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