Team captain Musa Bwogi falls short in quest for Olympic boxing medal

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda Boxing team captain Musa Shadir Bwogi has lost the bout to Georgia Madiev Eskerkhan in the welterweight category in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics. Bwogi, 24, was the only hope for Uganda in boxing following the early exit of David Ssemujju and Catherine Nanziri, who both lost their fights.

The boxer who looked sharp in the first rounds lost by split decision after all match rounds. He lost 3-1 from a possible five. Three judges scored Eskerkhan as the winner. The scores were 29-27, 28-28, 26-30, 26-30, 26-30 in favour of Madiev.

Bwogi, who was in the red corner put up a spirited fight. However, Madiev looked cleaner in the third round. Bwogi conceded more points after taking in several punches. Bwogi’s loss put an end to Uganda’s quest for boxing medals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games.

The pugilist recently earned a bye as per the Olympic governing rules after becoming one of the most highly ranked pugilists in the welterweight category and never participated in the round of 32. He was punching on the round 16 and had a chance to penetrate to the last 8 if he won his bout against Madiev. The Bombers entered the summer games in a bid to win a medal following the long term drought of Uganda’s Olympic team in boxing.

John Mugabi was the last boxer to bring Uganda a silver medal during the 1980 Summer Olympics in the Welterweight division. Boxing remains Uganda’s most successful sporting discipline at the Olympic Games. Uganda has four medals in boxing, three silver medals and one bronze medal.

Eridadi Mukwanga won a silver medal in bantamweight at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico and Leo Rwabwogo won bronze in flyweight in the same edition before he won silver at the 1972 Summer Olympics games in Germany in the same category.

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