Commonwealth Games bronze medallist and defending African Champion, 24-year-old Mauritian Richarno Colin, truly impressed the audience of the 10th All-Africa Games finals in Maputo, Mozambique. He confirmed his status by surpassing Arabic Champion, Tunisian Abderrazak Haouia, by 7:5 in the light welterweight class.
The bout was their second one this year, after the African Championships in Yaoundé, Cameroon, where Colin knocked-out his rival after two minutes. Maputo's close result was therefore quite unexpected.
The Mauritius star will now focus on the AIBA World Championships in Baku. Since Egyptian Mohamed Abdelmaghoud Hekal's bronze in Mianyang six years ago, none African boxer has won a medal at the AIBA World Championships. Unbeaten in 2011, Colin wants to be the next one.
AIBA President's Cup silver medallist, Willy Thomas Essomba, was the top favourite of the light flyweight class. The 24-year-old athlete has seen his golden dreams realised when he triumphed over World Combat Games bronze medallist, Algerian Mohamed Flissi, by 16:8. Essomba therefore wins Cameroon's first gold medal in the All-Africa Games history.
An easy Mejri overwhelmed Nogeng
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, Botswana's 21-year-old Oteng Oteng, had an impressive come-back against twice African Championships bronze medallist, Algerian Samir Brahimi, to win by a close 9:8. With this gold medal, the student from Gaborone reached his best performance ever.
Beijing Olympic Games bronze medallist and former African Champion, 33-year-old Mauritian Bruno Julie, won his first All-Africa Games title after beating Algeria's young talent Reda Benbaziz, who was celebrating his 18th birthday on the final day. Their bantamweight contest finished 8:8 but gold went to Mauritius.
Arabic Championships silver medallist Ahmed Mejri secured Tunisia's only gold medal at the event. The lightweight boxer overwhelmed Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, 29-year-old Mmoloki Nogeng from Botswana, by 20:5, the largest margin of all finals.
Beijing Olympian and African Zonal Champion, Cameroons 29-year-old Joseph Mulema, won his country's second gold medal in Maputo. He had an extremely close welterweight final against Nigerian teenager, Kehinde Ademuyiwa. Their battle finished 10:10 but Mulema did celebrate his victory by individual scores.
Algeria covered in gold
Reigning African Champion, 19-year-old Kennedy St. Pierre, obtained Mauritius' third gold medal of the Games. The middleweight youngster had no difficulty to win as his rival, Algeria's veteran Saad Kaddous, withdrawn.
Beijing Olympic Games quarter-finalist, WSB Individual Champion and light heavyweight No.1, Algerian Abdelhafid Benchebla defeated Commonwealth Games quarter-finalist, Nigerian Lukmon Lawal, by 18:8 and secured the first victory of the North African country.
In the heavyweight division, Algeria's other WSB boxer, twice African Championships silver medallist, Chouaib Bouloudinat, was too strong for Nigeria's newcomer Apochi Efetobor. The Constantine-based boxer won the final by a clear 19:8.
Next to Benchebla and Bouloudinat, African Cup of Nations winner, veteran super heavyweight boxer Kamel Rahmani won the third Algerian gold medal in Maputo after beating African Zonal Champion, Tunisian Aymen Trabelsi, by a impressive 15:7.
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