Algiers, July 22, GNA - All four members of the Black Bombers who got to the finals of the boxing segment of the 9th All Africa Games in Algiers seemed to have reached their point of saturation before the finals.
One after the other, the Ghanaian fighters failed to glitter and contended themselves with silver medals.
Team coach, Roberto Ibanez Chavez said he expected at least two gold medals and blamed the boys for lack of concentration when it mattered most.
But even in defeat the coach praised Middleweight Ahmed Saraku for carrying his fight to his Algerian opponent until the final moment when the home boy got the verdict, 9-8 to win the gold.
Saraku who was the last of the Ghanaian gladiators matched Kassel Nabil of Algeria punch for punch in what was undoubtedly the fight of the night and actually led to the end of the third round.
Holding his gloves high, the young Ghanaian blocked all the Algerian threw at him and landed some solid punches on target but the score card credited him with only two points at the end of the first round as against nil for the Algerian.
The story was not different in the second round as Saraku chased his opponent round the ring and punished him now and then. But there was indeed some bizarre scoring as the Algerian earned three points in the last seconds of the round to narrow the gap at 4-3. The one point lead remained at the end of the third round, with Saraku leading 7-6.
The home fans went into a vociferous chant in support of Nabil and this appeared to have influenced the judges as the screens showed a 9-8 win for the Algeria, who was terribly out of gas and found it hard to remain on his feet.
Saraku was cheered wildly by the partisan Algerian fans as he strolled across the ring applauding his own performance. The Samir brothers, Issa and Bastir put up plucky performances that were not good enough to give them the gold medals.
Issa lost 6-9 to Ouradi Abdourahim also of Algeria in the bantamweight class, while Samir lost 12-20 to Merdassi Rached of Tunisia in the welterweight division.
In the opening fight of the evening, the 'fighting computer', light flyweight, Manyo Plange lost his rhythm to a virus from Kenya called Southman Bilali.
The Kenyan was so dominant that there were no question marks about the direction of the verdict, which went 24-7 in favour of the Kenyan. In other fights of the finals, Mechnoui of Algeria defeated Chawke Jackson of South Africa in the flyweight division, while Chadi Abdel of Algeria won the gold in the featherweight class with a 23-6 verdict over.
Tunisian Seifddinne Magmeiri got the gold in the lightweight division despite drawing 12-12 with Yasin Gaber of Egypt. The Tunisian had forced his opponent to take a mandatory eight count and that gave him the crown.
Light welterweight Hastiwas Bwalya of Zambia delivered the crown to his country with a 23-9 score against Nilabiti Herbert of Botswana and Abdul Ramadan of Egypt put a wedge in the Algerian celebrations when he took the light heavyweight gold with an 18-15 win over Kassel Nabil of Algeria. 22 July 07
