A date against history: Can the Bombers strike first gold since 2004?

Light fly Jolly Katongole (RIP) training at Hotel Africana after winning gold at the 2004 Africa Olympics Trials. FILE PHOTO

KAMPALA. Unless otherwise, three Ugandan boxers will compete at this year’s World Boxing Championships in Hamburg, Germany slated for August.

It is no mean achievement swapping jabs and hooks with the cream of the world.
It is also a window to greatness which the three of the nine Bombers opened by reaching the semi-finals of the AFBC African Confederation Boxing Championship in Brazzaville, Congo.
A lot is still at stake, though: if any of the Ugandan debutants advance in today’s semis, he will have enriched his chances of striking gold or at least silver. And do you know how big this is? It will be Uganda’s first major gold medal in a long 13 years.
You might be tempted to think of the gold Ugandans won at the 2015 Nyerere Memorial Tournament or the 2016 Bingwa wa Mabingwa tournament. But these are usually Tanzania-Uganda affairs—marred by substandard officiating.

The sad truth
It was Jolly Katongole, the sensational light fly, who won Uganda’s last gold medal in a major event. At the 1st Aiba African 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the fleet-footed teenager humiliated Moroccan Redouane Bouchtouk, 28, in front of his home crowd in Casablanca. Katongole qualified for the Athens 2004 Olympics at just 17 years old.
When he failed to manage this teenage success, he succumbed to all manner of drugs, wandering the streets of Kampala like a dirty-like-a-hog beggar. Uganda lost a gem. With a mix of alleged sorcery, he died miserably in 2015 at just 28.
I am cocksure none of David ‘The Dragon’ Ayiti, Muzamir ‘King Kong’ Kakande or Geoffrey Kaketo is aware of the sad statistic that 13 years on no Ugandan has boxed in major final, a spell majorly facilitated by administrative wrangles which have stunted boxing—Uganda’s most successful sport.

Weighing the chances
Today, bantamweight Kaketo seems to have the toughest match against Tunisia’s 2016 Olympian Bilel Mhamdi, who also won gold at the 2016 Africa Olympic trials in Yaounde, Cameroon. Kaketo luckily squeezed to the semis after his quarterfinal opponent was disqualified for biting him in the third round. The Ugandan, who was elevated to elite category early this year, needs huge luck to reach tomorrow’s final.
Super heavy Ayiti must also up his game against Angola’s Carlos Mbuyi Masia who convincingly eliminated Morocco’s 2016 Olympian Mohammed Arjaoui.
Welterweight Kakande, so far, the most tested and proven Ugandan in the tournament has higher chances to advance. Zambia’s Nkumbu Silungwe has no worrying statistic.

TODAY’S SELECTED SEMIS
Geoffrey Kaketo (Uganda) vs Bilel Mhamdi (Tunisia)
Muzamir Kakande (Uganda) vs Nkumbu Silungwe (Zambia)
David Ayiti (Uganda) vs Carlos Mbuyi Masia (Angola)