Ongare, Akinyi lose opening bouts in Russia

Commonwealth Games flyweight bronze medalist Christine Ongare and national bantamweight champion Elizabeth Akinyi lost their opening bouts of the Konstantin Korotkov Memorial International Boxing Championships in Russia on Wednesday.

Ongare lost to Diana Gorishnaya of Estonia on unanimous points’ decision in the opening match after playing for three rounds before Akinyi’s bout against Maria Moronto of Dominican Republic was abandoned in the second round due to injury.

Head coach Benjamin Musa has said Christine was not aggressive enough but with Akinyi they decided to end the fight as a precautionary measure due to injury.

“Christine was not aggressive enough in her approach and easily lost her game plan through her opponents’ clever tactics. On Akinyi’s side her opponent was technically superior and towards the end of the second round she started bleeding from a mouth injury and that’s why we decided to end the fight,” said Musa.

Elizabeth Akinyi is national welterweight champion while Christine Ongare is a Commonwealth Games flyweight bronze medalist.

Africa Zone Three super heavyweight champion Elly Ajowi and the 2015 Africa Boxing Championships lightweight gold medalist Nick Okoth have their first bouts on Thursday in the heavyweight and featherweight categories respectively.

20 Nations are represented at the event; Hosts Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Sweden, Moldova, South Korea, Japan, Israel, Estonia, Cameroon, Algeria, Kenya, Morocco, Belarus, Dominican Republic and New Zealand.

A total of 31 female and 68 male boxers are searching for the honors with 26 female and 58 male bouts lined up in the seven-day competition ending May 16 at Lenina Regional Sports Complex Stadium.