Olympic boxing qualifiers: Ssemujju in last chance saloon

Africa Olympic Boxing Qualifiers
Yesterday's results
Younes Nemouchi (Alg) bt David Ssemujju (Ug)
Acinda Panguana (Moz) bt Emily Nakalema (Ug)

Uganda‘s seasoned boxer David Ssemujju will have to wait for a box-off card to save his Olympic dream.

Ssemujju and Emily Nakalema lost to Algeria's Younes Nemouchi and Mozambique's Acinda Panguana respectively in the semi-finals of the ongoing Africa Olympic boxing qualifiers in Dakar, Senegal.

In a contest where both fighters threw hundreds of punches, the Algerian possessed a slight advantage to finally complete his revenge on Ssemujju by a split decision win.

Nemouchi had suffered a unanimous loss to Ssemujju during the quarter-finals of the All Africa Games in Morocco last year.

The defeat puts Ssemujju in wait for a box-off card that is equivalent to a third-place playoff in football to keep his Olympic dream alive.

In the box off, Ssemujju will face the winner between Cameroon's Wilfried Ntsengue and DRC's David Tshama tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Nakalema's defeat dashed her Olympic dream completely given her weight has no room for a box-off.

Late last night other Ugandans Isaac Masembe, Shadir Musa and Catherine Nanziri were in action.

Historical 2004
It is 17 years on the road since the national boxing team ‘The Bombers' last had five players punching their way to the Olympic games.

At the time, the country's golden boy Jolly Katongole, Sadat Tebazaalwa, Sam Rukundo, Brian Mayanja, and Joseph Lubega qualified to the games during the first and second AIBA Africa Olympic boxing qualifiers in Casablanca and Gaborone, Botswana respectively.