Shadir grabs ticket to 2020 Olympic Games
Qualified. Musa Shadir during qualifiers. PHOTO BY john batanudde.
Almost everyone: coaches, fans, fellow boxers, administrators and the press, doubted Musa Shadir. But just when the whole nation’s hopes compulsorily hinged on him, when all favourites had failed the test, and ruing the golden opportunity missed, Shadir passed with flying colours.
Shadir finally grabbed the ticket to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, after beating Ghana’s Jessie Lartey 5-0 in a cagey welterweight box-off, just an hour after 2019 African silver medalist Isaac Masembe lost his quest to another Ghanaian Samuel Takyi, a day after Uganda’s top hope and Africa’s top middleweight David Ssemuju lost a close 3-2 decision to Cameroon’s Wilfried Ntsengue.
Saturday, the last day of the African Olympic Boxing Qualifiers in Dakar, begun with more misery for Uganda when Kenyan Christine Ongare pounded Catherine Nanziri in the only women’s box-off. Then Takyi defeated Masembe.
Suddenly, all eyes were on Shadir, to rise and shine where 12 teammates had fallen. The nation’s doubt was genuine. Shadir is almost invincible at home, but hadn’t won more than once in any of his last three international tournaments. Yet with hindsight, his performance in Dakar hinted a milestone. He had already won twice before losing the semifinal to Cameroon’s eventual gold medalist Albert Mengue.
Now against fellow southpaw Lartey, the Bombers captain came out strong from his blue corner, keen to save his reputation and the sinking Ugandan ship. The talented, slightly taller Lartey won Round One 3-2. But Shadir looked positive. He didn’t quit his punch-and-move style. He just doubled his punching volume, and readiness to fight or move where necessary. Hence, he denied Lartey the chance to control the tempo, a trick that defeated Lartey’s previous two opponents.
Shadir swept the second round 5-0, and in the third, he looked the stronger, as Lartey lost steam. This impressed the five judges unanimously and Shadir got the coveted ticket to Tokyo. The only Ugandan so far, if not ever.
He dedicated this hard-fought success to perhaps only those who believed him even when he himself doubted his potential.
“This is for my father, my family and my girlfriend who encouraged me to continue at some point when I wanted to quit the sport,” Shadir told the Olympic Channel. “My father was a boxer, but he had to quit for me, when my mother was pregnant with me. When I was growing up I heard that he was a good boxer so I felt like ‘why couldn’t I push his dream? So when I was 12 I started training. I know he was following this, ‘my father wherever you are, you started it I’m completing, I have achieved my dream of representing my country at the Olympics’.”
Strangely, only the captains, and welterweights—Shadir and Emily Nakalema—got [bronze] medals for Uganda. But most likely, only Shadir, bred in the East Coast stable in the Naguru slums, will represent the nation in Tokyo. Unless otherwise.
THIRD PLACE BOX-OFFS
Musa Shadir 5-0 Jessie Lartey (Ghana)
Isaac Masembe 0-5 Samuel Takyi (Ghana)
Catherine Nanziri 0-5 Christine Ongare (Kenya)
David Ssemuju 2-3 Wilfried Ntsengue (Cameroon)
