Kenya’s Christine Ongare is out of the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships.
Ongare, the 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, lost to Turkey’s Erivan Barut when Japanese referee Riichi Igarashi surprisingly stopped her minimumweight bout in the first round on Tuesday in the ongoing championship in New Delhi, India.
Igarashi., the European U-22 champion, stopped the bout with 35 second remaining in the first round after two standing counts of eight to the shock of Ongare’s corner. The Turkish boxer did not land any solid shots.
“This is so painful and shocking for the referee to end the bout in that manner. The referee kept on warning me for no reason when it’s my opponent who was using unorthodox means,” said the tearful Ongare.
Team Kenya head coach Musa Benjamin described the decision as outrageous, coming from the same referee who also stopped Friza Anyango’s bout in the first round on Saturday.
“There was no punch to occasion the stoppage. This is outrageous. The referee can only give eight counts from a clean, solid punch,” said Musa, who was bundled out of the boxing hall after he protested. Ongare was the 10th Kenyan boxer to be eliminated from the world event, leaving team captain Elizabeth Andiego (light heavyweight) as the only survivor.
Andiego, the Africa heavyweight silver medallist, who was given a bye, was scheduled to fight Sholtay Fariza from Kazakhstan in the quarter-final Tuesday night.
Earlier, Lorna Kusa (light middleweight)) lost their preliminary round bouts. Kusa lost to Columbia’s Fernanda Vasques Cortes on a unanimous 5-0 decision.
