Boxing horror show continues, hurdlers Bett and Koech advance

IN GOLD COAST

Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa arrives in the Gold Coast on Wednesday morning to follow Kenya’s campaign at the Commonwealth Games here.

But the former amateur boxer will be too late to witness any Kenyan men in the ring as the last one standing – Shaffi Hassan Bakari– was eliminated by Kenya's neighbours Uganda on Tuesday.

Echesa will most certainly read the riot act and push for change of tack in a sport that was once Kenya’s prime medal hunting ground.

And with the new CS having struck a sports exchange partnership with Cuba recently, perhaps the immediate importing of coaches from Havana and sending Kenyan boxers to Cuba’s National Institute of Sport, Physical Education and Recreation could stop our free-fall in the ring.

After all, what are these partnerships for?

Team Kenya’s camp was still reeling in shock on Tuesday upon realising that they will be on the long flight back home this week without a medal, at least in the men’s section, after all seven boxers were vanquished in the Oxenford Studios ring.

Oxenford Studios, venue of the boxing, squash and table tennis competitions at these Games, is a massive set of film studios with nine huge sound stages and other production facilities, including a film school.

Some of the big productions stemming from the Oxenford Studios include Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead men tell no tales, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles and Scooby-Doo.

The producers and script writers here might as well consider scripting a horror movie: The Collapse of Kenyan Boxing, starring the Kenyan Commonwealth Games boxing team whose performance here has been pedestrian, to say the least.

After the elimination of Brian Agina, Benson Gicharu, Elly Ajowi, Nick Abaka, Edwin Okong’o and Nick Okoth, huge responsibility rested on the small shoulders of young light flyweight Hassan who lost in a split points decision (2-3) to Uganda’s Juma Miro.

Hassan had a good opening round but his left hand went numb, pouring cold water on his campaign on an overcast day.

“I don’t know what happened. My hand just went numb, and I told the coach to try and massage me between the rounds but it didn’t respond,” said 24-year-old Hassan, who fights locally for the Kenya Police.

Miro seems to have noted the Kenyan’s weakness and went for the jugular in the second and third rounds.

“I could see his weakness and I went in for the strong punches,” said the Ugandan who is now assured of a bronze medal to add onto the two gold medals and bronze won by the country’s track athletes at the nearby Carrara Stadium.

At the last Commonwealth Games in Glasgow four years ago, the boxing contingent minted one bronze medal through Gicharu in the bantamweight.

Now they are pinning their hopes on flyweight Christine Ongare who takes on Sri Lanka’s Dulani Jayasinghe in the quarter-finals from midday (Kenyan time) Wednesday.

“We need to get back to the drawing board and use the All Africa Games as a springboard to the 2020 Olympics,” head coach Patrick Maina said after Hassan’s bout.

ONE LAST BOXER

Ongare is also the only woman boxer left in Kenya’s campaign after Elizabeth Andiego and Lorna Simbi were both eliminated.

There was heartbreak in the men’s 50-metre rifle prone competition at the Belmont Shooting Centre where Kenya’s Gulraaj Sehmi finished ninth with 612.2 points, just 0.5 points behind eighth-placed Englishman Kenneth Parr, with eight shooters advancing to the final.

The second Kenyan marksman Gurupreet Dhanjal was 26th with 600.6pts.

There was early morning track action too with former 400m hurdles world champion Nicholas Bett and his twin brother Aron Koech both advancing, their training stint in South Africa under coach Irma Reyneke perhaps beginning to show.

Koech was third in Heat Two, clocking 49.28 seconds, while Bett, who is back after a long stress fracture injury lay-off, won Heat Three in 49.24 seconds.

“I felt good. The conditions were very hot,” Bett said.

“I’m really prepared for the finals after having been training in South Africa. I missed eight months because of the stress fracture but I’m in good shape now. I look forward to running fast in the final (on Thursday).”

Koech was excited to see his twin brother back in good shape, and looks forward to a twin-pronged attack (quite literally) in the final.

“I’m so happy for my twin brother,” he said.

“He and I have both qualified and I have confidence because we have been training together in South Africa.”

Elsewhere at Currumbin Beachfront, David Kinja, a veteran of five Commonwealth Games appearances, wound up 28th with a time of 54 minutes, 35.62 seconds, a performance he will take, any day.

“That was the best time trial I’ve ever done. I’ve had better coaching and it has been more professional, and this was my personal best time,” he said.

“It was a really tough course and I feel I should have done a longer warm-up. It was really hot and I wasn’t ready for it.

KIMWAKI BOUNCES BACK

In the lawn bowls at the Breadbeach Bowls Club, Cephas Kimwaki recovered from a 10-21 loss to Kiwi Shannon McIlroy to defeat Arun Kumar of Fiji 21-5.

Kenya’s morning session results:

Men’s 50m rifle prone qualification (top eight through to final): Gulraaj Sehmi (9th, 612.2pts), Gurupreet Dhanjal (26th, 600.6pts);

Lawn Bowls:

Men’s singles section A, round 3: Cephas Kimwaki Kimani lost to Shannon McIlroy (New Zealand) 21-10; Round 4: Cephas Kimwaki Kimani beat Arun Kumar (Fiji) 21-5.

Table tennis:

Women’s singles, group 2, game 2: Sejal Thattar lost to Elodie Ho Wan Kau (Mauritius) 4-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-9, 11-4)

Cycling:

Men’s individual time trial: David Kinja (28th, 54:35.62);

Athletics:

Men’s 800m round one: Wycliffe Kinyamal (1st in Heat 1, 1:45.56, qualifies); Cornelius Tuwei (3rd in Heat 2, 1:47.10, eliminated), Jonathan Kitilit (1st in Heat 3, 1:47.27, qualifies); Decathlon: Gilbert Koech (10th after 8 events, 5,564 points; Men’s 400m hurdles, round 1, Heat 1: William Mbevi Mutunga (6th, 50.92, eliminated), Aron Koech (3rd, Heat 2, 49.28, qualifies), Nicholas Bett (1st, Heat 3, 49.24, qualifies), Women’s 400m hurdles, round 1, Heat 2: Maureen Jelagat (6th, 57.66, eliminated), Men’s long jump qualifying, Group A: Bethwel Lagat (10th, 7.58m, eliminated), Women’s 200m, round 1: Gladys Musyoki (6th, heat 1, 24.94, eliminated), Millicent Ndoro (5th, Heat 3, 24.31, qualifies), Joan Cherono (7th, Heat 4, 25.10, eliminated); Men’s 200m, round 1: Mark Otieno (3rd, 21.03, qualifies), Mike Mokamba (3rd, Heat 7, 21.14, eliminated), Peter Mwai (5th, Heat 9, 21.27, eliminated);

Para lifting:

Men’s lightweight final: Gabriel Wanjiru (7th, 143.8 points); Women’s lightweight final: Hellen Kariuki (4th with 96.0pts)

Swimming:

Women’s S8 (para), 50m freestyle, Heat 1: Ann Wacuka (7th, 56.63 sec);

Badminton:

Men’s singles round of 64: Victor Odera beat Tobi Adeoye (Falkland Island) 2-0 (21-13, 21-14); Women’s singles, round of 64: Kenya’s Mercy Joseph injured, Alisen Camille (Seychelles awarded walkover);

Squash:

Mixed doubles, Pool ‘C’: Tesni Evans/ Peter Creed (Wales) beat Hardeep Reel/Khaaliqa Nimji 2-0 (11-3, 11-1);

Boxing:

Light flyweight (46-49kg), quarter-finals: Juma Miro (Uganda) beat Shaffi Hassan 3-2