Mauritius' top boxer Richarno Colin continued his excellent winning series at the 8th Indian Ocean Islands Games which was held in the picturesque Roche Caiman, Seychelles, over the weekend.
The 24-year-old Mauritian was Olympian in Beijing but his real successes followed that event. Colin claimed a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi last year where only AIBA World Championships bronze medalist, English Bradley Saunders, could do better. Since then the tough fighter is unbeaten.
At the begining of this year Richarno Colin secured a gold medal at the Bocskai Memorial Tournament in Hungary where he striked back to Bradley Saunders in the final. Mauritius' big hope also won the African Zonal Championships and the African Championships in June.
As expected, top favourite Richarno Colin reached the gold in Seychelles after beating Jafata Tsimagniry of Madagascar by 29:7 in the light welterweight final.
The Indian Ocean Islands Games is a huge multi-sports event held in the region every four years. Boxing was included to the official program since the first edition. Altogether, 43 athletes from five nations (Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion and Seychelles) competed at the Games' boxing event.
Athens Olympian, Malagasy 33-year-old veteran Herinjaka Lalaina Rabenarivo, is back on track this year and secured his title after beating Mauritius' National Champion and Commonwealth Championships silver medalist, Olivier Lavigilante, by 16:15 in the light flyweight class.
Newly crowned African Champion, 22-year-old Ludovic Gilbert Bactora of Mauritius, defeated the host nation's top flyweight boxer, Dave Cesar, in the semi-final and then claimed the gold medal against Madagascar's Yves Olivier Razanakolona.
African Youth Games silver medalist, Seychellois 19-year-old Andrix Allisop, who's coached by Russian Igor Kolesnikov, caused the biggest surprise on the final day defeating Mauritius' national hero, Beijing Olympic Games bronze medalist Bruno Julie, by 24:19 in the bantamweight division.
Richarno's younger brother and former African Champion, 21-year-old Jean John Colin, was defeated by Eric Dagard of Reunion by 20:17 in the lightweight category but he might be in the position to improve his performance at the upcoming All Africa Games.
Local hero Athens Olympian, 28-year-old Kitson Julie, defended his welterweight title against African Champion, Mauritian 19-year-old Kennedy St. Pierre, in a hectic battle which ended 19:14 to Julie.
African Championships bronze medalist, Seychellois Jean Jovet, firstly defeated his main rival Cedric Olivier of Mauritius by 23:19 in the semi-final and then stopped Patrick Menagere of Madagascar in the second round of their middleweight final.
Seychelles' new surprise, 17-year-old Keddy Agnes, reached the host nation's fourth gold medal shocking his rivals such as Henri Sebastien of Reunion and Mauritius' National Championships silver medalist Jacques Raphael. Both fights finished in the first three minutes when the referee stopped the contests after Agnes' punches.
Madagascar's heavyweight boxer, Rodolphe Randriamanantena, defended his throne in triumphing over Reunion's Emmanuel Payet by 18:17. Mauritius' Rodney Prosper only claimed only a bronze medal.
In the super heavyweight class, Reunion's Brice Gerald Cadenet, defeated Mauritian National Champion, Danilo Gaspard, by individual scores in the semi-final then Mohamed Feno of Madagascar in another close contest by 13:11.
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