From ELIAS CHIPEPO In Brazzaville –
BANTAMWEIGHT boxer Timothy Chesu says he was robbed of victory over Molalapata Kefentse of Botswana as he joined the bandwagon of eliminated Zambian pugilists on holiday at the on-going All-Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville.
Chesu, who became the sixth Zambian boxer to be ‘knocked out’ from the pan-African Games, put up a strong performance despite starting on a slow note but was left stunned when the result was announced in Kefentse’s favour.
It was an exciting fight that saw Kefentse start on a solid note winning the first round but Chesu came strongest in the second round and even went on to inflict more pain on his opponent who had to face a count-out till seven in the third round.
Initially, the electronic scoring machine gave Chesu the victory but as assistant coach Wisdom Mudenda communicated the same to coach Kennedy Kanyanta-who started celebrating, the judges changed the score and awarded Kefentse the win.
Kefentse equally looked to be in shock as the referee lifted up his arm to declare him as the winner much to the anguish of the Zambian camp that thought they had two boxers progressing to the next round.
“I don’t know what I can say. They stole the win from me because I won the fight and even the scoring machine showed that but I don’t know how the judges could do that,” Chesu said.
Chesu said much as the result was a bitter pill to swallow, he would continue working hard for the future tournaments.
He said he would not let the decision bring him down but would use it as a stepping stone towards achieving greatness.
Meanwhile, coach Kennedy Kanyanta has described the boxers’ overall performance as poor following the elimination of six pugilists leaving only middleweight Ben Muziyo in the hunt for a medal.
Kanyanta was convinced Chesu had won but was equally surprised that the decision turned out different.
“It’s unfortunate that the decision favoured the Botswana boxer when Chesu clearly won the fight. Mudenda went to check the scoring machine and indicated to me that we had won but was shocked when the verdict was read out.
“But we cannot do anything about it because there are no protests at these competitions,” Kanyanta said.
He said the boxers were ill-prepared compared to the levels of the other boxers taking part in the competition.
Kanyanta bemoaned that many boxers at the competition camped for months in Cuba and India unlike the Zambian boxers and that there was need to prepare well next time.
He said he would ensure that only the best boxers are picked for the World Boxing Championship billed for Qatar next year as well as the Rio 2016 Olympic Games qualifiers slated for Cameroun in March.
“We shall only pick the cream of the best Zambian boxers who should qualify us for the Olympics and only those who can win us medals. It will be pointless to carry a big bunch when only two or three can perform. I don’t want a repeat of what happened here,” he said.
Muziyo was last night expected to fight Tunisian El Mekechri Yahia in the medal barrack fight for a place in the semi-finals where boxers are assured of a medal.
In Judo, Team Zambia liaison officer Pritchard Ngoma said Boas Munyonga and Mathews Punza arrived ahead of the competition that starts on September 14.