Tukamuhebwa faces stern test against African champ

When Richarno Colin represented Mauritius at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Uganda’s Joshua Tukamuhebwa was only eight years old.

When Colin won gold at the 2011 All-Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique, Tukamuhebwa had not even entered a boxing gym.
But despite this yawning gap in age and experience, fate has pitted them into the same ring as both battle for the coveted medal bracket.

Tukamuhebwa, aka ‘The Punisher’, got a bye into the lightweight [63kg] quarterfinals, but Colin rolled back his glory years by knocking out Lesotho’s Qhobosheane Mohlerepe in two rounds Wednesday.

A win for either will guarantee at least medal, but a loss to Joshua will be a dream shattered. “I want to win gold,” he assured Daily Monitor recently. “I know it’s hard.

But that’s what I want and I will give it my all.”
If he deploys his left hook-right combination to lethal effect, and uses his gas wisely, the teenager has a chance against an opponent 13 years his senior. Also in action today is super heavyweight Solomon Geko, who fights Nigeria’s Solomon Adebayo.

Captain out
Meanwhile, welterweight Musa Shadir Bwogi had his medal dreams ended instantly when he lost to Zambia’s Nkumu Silungwe yesterday.
The Zambian showed intent from the onset, cornering the Bombers captain thrice in the first round and sending him to his knees. In the second stanza, Silungwe furthered his offense, cornering Shadir once, though the Ugandan scored some shots in his trademark hit-and-move style.

Silungwe didn’t shy away though, and deservedly, he got the split decision win. In tomorrow’s second preliminaries of the featherweight division [57kg], Isaac Masembe makes his continental debut against DR Congo’s Rocky Bukasa.

AFRICAN GAMES - UGANDA RESULTS
Women’s Table Tennis
Nigeria 3-0 Uganda
Uganda 2-3 Congo
Swimming - Men’s 200m Freestyle
4. Atuhaire Ambala (UGA) 2:01.19
Women’s 50m Butterfly
3. Rebecca Ssengonzi (UGA) 29.49
Boxing - 69kgs
Shadir 2-3 Silungwe (ZAM)
TODAY - TABLE TENNIS
12pm: Women’s Classification
Swimming
12pm: Men’s 50m Backstroke, Men &
Women’s 100m Butterfly Heats
Lawn Tennis
1pm: Men’s Singles Preliminaries
Boxing
Tukamuhebwa vs. Colin (MRI) 63kg
Geko vs. Adebayo [Nigeria] 91+kg