Olympics

Olympic qualifiers: Nakalema out, Ssemuju waits for retake

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 03:02 pm

David Ssemuju, Uganda’s top hope in the African Olympic Qualifiers in Dakar, Senegal, has lost the semifinal to Algeria’s Younes Nemouchi 4-1 this evening.
Ssemuju, Africa’s top middleweight until yesterday, was aggressive as usual in all rounds, chasing the bigger, and mobile Nemouchi but was trailing 18-20 after 2 rounds.

He upped his gear to win the 3rd but it wasn’t enough to turn the fight around. 4 judges preferred Nemouchi, against one for Ssemuju.
Now Ssemuju’s last chance to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics is in the third-place box-off against the loser between Cameroon’s Wilfried Ntsengue and DR Congo’s David Tshama, who fight late nighEarlier, welterweight Emily Nakalema, the first Ugandan woman to win in Dakar, lost her Olympic ticket to Africa’s seed 2 Acinda Panguana of Mozambique in a unanimous decision. Nakalema has no second chance in Dakar.

Captain Shadir Musa, Isaac Masembe and Nanziri are due for their semi-finals tonight.