Women boxers snubbed for Olympic qualifiers

There are only 18 slots—seven for men, 11 for women—to be contested at the African Olympic Qualifiers in Dakar, Senegal but Uganda will field only six boxers, according to a letter from the Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) following an August 21, meeting with the Uganda Boxing Federation (UBF).

More intriguing is that only one female boxer, instead of six, will compete for a slot in the Paris 2024 Olympics, further limiting Uganda’s chance to qualify another woman boxer after Catherine Nanziri's historic debut in Tokyo 2020.

Flyweight Grace Nankinga is the only lucky girl on the list that was expected to include fellow rookies Nadia Najjemba, Shalua Musa Ndagire, who both won their elimination bouts for Dakar recently and Erina Namutebi, who won light welterweight silver in the African Championships in Yaounde, Cameroon earlier this month.

The letter indicated that upon submitting the long list of boxers, UBF failed to submit their copies of passports, National IDs and passport-size photos before the July 28 deadline. However, neither UBF president Moses Muhangi nor UOC boss Donald Rukare, who both attended the decisive meeting, explained whether the omitted boxers are victims of the biodata delays.

After dismissing the International Boxing Association (IBA) from the Olympic Movement in June, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) gave National Olympic Committees the mandate to prepare boxers for Paris 2024.

Oceania was allocated 13 slots, Europe 44, Asia 34 and Pan America 30. In Dakar only gold medalists will qualify for Paris 2024 in the men’s category, while the 11 finalists will qualify among women.

But instead of a full team of 13, Uganda has only listed nine boxers, three of which are reserves, meaning only six will go to Dakar.

“It’s a huge blow. I feel deflated,” said lady Bombers captain Emily Nakalema, who won bronze at the African Championship in Yaounde, Cameroon two weeks ago.

Nakalema lost her welterweight semifinal to Cape Verde’s Ivanusa Gomes, whom she had defeated in the 2020 African Olympic qualifiers in Dakar.

“I promised the president (Muhangi) to work even harder and assured him that whoever comes my way ahead of the Olympics, I will just clear them.”

She walked her talk by defeating Namutebi 5-0 in the pre-Dakar eliminations. Now both will miss Dakar.

“But sincerely, why did they do this to me?” Nakalema regretted. “I had even brought the punching bag from the gym and put it at home, so that I don’t relax. Now suddenly all this hard work is meaningless! Too bad.”

To stand any chance for Paris 2024, Tokyo 2020 Olympian David Ssemuju must drop about seven kilogrammes in just weeks to make the 63.5kg—the new Olympic lightweight—where he is the reserve to Bombers captain Joshua Tukamuhebwa. “I am ready for whatever challenge,” he told Daily Monitor.  

Ssemuju was in a similar crisis at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast but lost instantly.

The luckiest guy here is Musa Shadir Bwogi, who led Ssemuju and others in rejecting the UBF contracts for the Champions League. Now he is the reserve boxer in the 80kgs category—the new middleweight—but Idris Mukiibi, the main boxer, took a break from boxing immediately after a dismal performance at the African Championships in Yaounde, for personal reasons. That means Bwogi, who knocked out DR Congo’s Samuel Muloko in the fourth round to win the ABU East and Central Africa super middleweight title on Sunday, is assured of a return to Dakar, where he was the only Ugandan to win a ticket to Tokyo 2020.

If Ssemuju or Bwogi go to Dakar, they will be Uganda’s first professionals to return to amateur boxing since Olympic rules changed in 2016.

Bombers 

1. Shafik Mawanda - 51kg, Main

2. Jonathan Kyobe - 57kg, Main

3. Joshua Tukamuhebwa, 63.5kg Main

4. David Kavuma Ssemujju Men Athlete - 63.5kg, Reserve

5. Isaac Zebra Ssenyange - 71kg, Main

6. Ukasha Matovu - 71kg, Reserve

7. Idirisa Mukiibi - 80kg, Main

8. Shadiri Bwogi - 80kg, Reserve

9. Grace Nankinga - 50kg, Main