Mauritius establishes new record in Boxing with seven gold medals

In the Light Fly category (46-49kg), Sharwin Kumar Beedassee won the gold medal against Heriniaina Nameryana hazy Tony of Madagascar by 3 – 2. John Colin continued on this same momentum and won against the representative of Reunion Island, Julien Samourgompoulle, on the score of 4-1 in the Featherweight category.

On the other hand, our compatriot Gilbert Ludovic Bactora was defeated by a knockout in the second round in the Fly category (52kg) against his Malagasy opponent Jerome Andrianarivelo. Hence, the referee made the decision to end the fight.

Louis Denis Mikey bowed to his opponent from Reunion Island in the Bantamweight (56kg) category and was defeated on the score of 3-2. The fight between the boxers was very tight but it was finally the Reunion boxer who secured the greatest number of points.

In the same vein, it was announced that Kennedy St Pierre, in the 91 Kg category, will not be awarded any medals as his opponent from Seychelles, Keddy Agnes, unwell, would not get on the ring for the finals. Hence, the technical delegate of the International Boxing Association, Mr Bertrand Mendouga, put forward the rule of the AIBA Technical and Competition Rules stipulating that “no medal will be awarded to a Boxer who has not boxed at least once within the entire Competition period”.

Richarno Colin and Jean Luc Rosalba, of the 64kg and 75kg categories respectively, pinched the gold medals against Andrique Allisop of Seychelles and Mdahoma Mohamed of Comores with a score of 4-1 and 5-0 respectively. Merven Clair followed in the same fervour by winning the gold medal in the 69kg category with a score of 5-0 against Shain Boniface of Seychelles.

The sixth and seventh gold medals were pinched by Christophe Otendy and Cedric Olivier in the 81kg and 91 kg categories respectively. Christophe Otendy imposed himself against the Seychelles boxer Jean Jovette and won on a score of 3-2, while Cedric Olivier fought against the Malagasy fighter Rabenamdrasana Francois, winning on a score of 4-1, hereby giving Mauritius its 90^th Gold medal.

On the same occasion, the Prime Minister announced that Monday 29 July 2019 will be declared a public holiday, a decision taken due to Mauritius’s historic performance at the Indian Ocean Islands Games 2019. Mr Jugnauth stated that the Government is very proud of our athletes who brought so many medals to the country. In this context, all athletes will assemble at Place d’Armes,  then proceed to Champ-de-Mars where Government is planning a celebration, he added.