Twenty out of the thirty entered nations have now secured at least one quota places at the AIBA African Olympic Qualifying Event Casablanca 2012. Algeria will send eight boxers to the London 2012 Olympic Games while Morocco got seven quota places in front of its home crowd.
Morocco's light flyweight No.1 Abdelali Daraa from Ain Sebaa stopped Mozambique's teenager Juliano Maquina in their excellent semi-final contest in Casablanca but the Mozambique' boxer was also satisfied with his bronze which resulted for him an Olympic quota. Daraa will now meet Algeria's All Africa Games silver medallist Mohamed Flissi in the final of the event. Daraa's and Flissi's victories mean that Egypt's Ramy Helmy El-Awady and Ghana's Sulemanu Tetteh also secured their licences to London.
Botswana's current All Africa Games winner Oteng Oteng walked over to the flyweight final because his opponent, Algeria's African Championships silver medallist Samir Brahimi could not fight against him in the semi-final. Oteng's final opponent will be Kenya's Commonwealth Games silver medallist Benson Gicharu in Casablanca while lucky losers in the previous stage of the competition as Egypt's AIBA Youth World Championships bronze medallist Hesham Mahmoud Abdelaal and Mauritius' Olivier Lavigilante also secured their licences to London.
The host nation's Aboubaker Seddik Lbida and Gabon's only qualified athletes to London, Romeo Braexir Lemboumba both are 32-year-old and fought each other in the bantamweight semi-final. Lbida had two points advantage after the first round while Lemboumba used up his physical conditions to turn back the fight and he almost did it in Casablanca. The Moroccan veteran's next opponent will be Ghana's UK based Isaac Dogboe who triumphed over South Africa's Ayabonga Sonjica.
Tunisia's All Africa Games winner and Arab Champion Ahmed Mejri won each of the three rounds against Seychelles' Indian Ocean Islands Games winner 20-year-old Andrique Allisop and advanced to the lightweight final. Mejri's victory resulted an Olympic licence to Egypt's World Combat Games winner Mohamed Ramadan Eliwa. Previously only one Egyptian boxer secured the right to participate in the Games while they achieved three new quotas as lucky losers in the sixth competition day. The Tunisian boxer's next rival in the lightweight final will be Algeria's Beijing Olympic Games quarter-finalist Abdelkader Chadi.
Morocco's World Military Games silver medallist Abdelhak Aatakni shined in the last months and received the right to participate in the qualification event. He continued the winning path and eliminated Burkina Faso's 'AIBA Road to Baku Program' member Brice Romaric Bassole by 12:6 at the semi-final of the light welterweight class. The Moroccan boxer's next rival for the gold will be Tunisia's All Africa Games silver medallist Abderrazak Haouia in the last competition day. Aatakni's victory means that Mauritius' top boxer, All Africa Games winner Louis Richarno Colin also joined to the club of the qualified boxers. Zambia's last hope, Gilbert Chombe also secured his place to London despite of his loss at the quarter-final stage in Casablanca.
Morocco's Beijing Olympian Mehdi Khalsi advanced to the final as fourth from the host nation's squad. The experienced soldier eliminated Algeria's 20-year-old Ilyas Abbadi in their close contest and will now meet Mali's Mohamed Diaby in the final of the welterweight class. Tanzania's tough Selemani Kidunda and Gabon's Yannick Mitoumba also qualified to London in this division while Cameroon's top favourite, All Africa Games winner Joseph Mulema failed to reach his second Olympics.
The host nation's African Champion Badreddine Haddioui went up three divisions in this Olympic era but finally found his perfect class, the middleweight. Following his great victory over Egypt's star Mohamed Hikal, Haddioui won over Nigeria's Youth Olympian 20-year-old Muideen Akanji by accepted scores and will now meet for the gold against Namibia's Mujandjae Kasuto who eliminated Algeria's Abdelmalek Rahou in the second semi-final.
Morocco's former African Champion veteran Ahmed Bakri returned to the world of boxing last year and secured his quota following his victory at the quarter-final. In the next round he triumphed over Nigeria's All Africa Games silver medallist Lukmon Lawal as well and advanced to the final as sixth athletes from the host nation. For the gold he will be fighting against Tunisia's African Champion and Arab Games winner Yahya Mkacheri.
Algeria's AIBA World Championships quarter-finalist Chouaib Bouloudinats almost qualified to the Olympics in Baku last year. His opponent for the quota was Tunisia's National Champion Chedli Jemi who has not got enough experiences in the international level. Bouloudinat dominated their contest from the first seconds and finally overwhelmed his younger rival and achieved the Olympic licence as eighth from Algeria.
Kenya's two-time All Africa Games bronze medallist veteran Daniel Shisia who returned to the national squad this year, led by 5:2 after the first frame against Ghana's WSB fighter Maxwell Amponsah who could turn their narrow heavyweight battle. The final verdict of their equal fight was 11:10 to Amponsah who joined to his London Olympian teammates.
Cameroon's African Champion Blaise Yepmou Medouo fought for the first quota at the super heavyweight class against Egypt's National Champion Madian Issa Kassem Ahmed. The Cameroonian WSB boxer made an excellent second and final round and the referee stopped their unequal contest therefore Yepmou Medouo advanced to the final in the king category and received the ticket to London.
Morocco's super heavyweight No.1, Beijing Olympic Games quarter-finalist Mohamed Arjaoui had an unexpected hard battle against Kenya's National Trials winner Charles Odhiambo Okoth. Arjaoui led by 4:3 after the first frame but the Kenyan boxer did not give up his winning chance and had some heavy punches in the second round. The Moroccan star was able to keep two points from his short advantage until the final gong and achieved the quota to the London Olympics.
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