Changalawe eliminated in Olympic qualifier

TANZANIA: TANZANIAN amateur boxer, Yusuf Changalawe lost his fight in the qualifying competition for the Paris 2024 Olympics on Saturday night.

The match took place in Huamark Indoor Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand and his opponent, Cedrick BelonyDuliepre from Haiti, won by a split decision of 3-2 points.

Two judges scored in favour of Changalawe, with one from Morocco scoring 29:28 and another from Bulgaria with a score of 30:27, but the other three judges from Argentina, Israel, and Sri Lanka scored in favour of Cedrick.

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As a result, Changalawe has been eliminated from the ongoing qualifying competition in Thailand. His last hope lies in the nine Universality places.

Universality Places are a lifeline to athletes from underrepresented National Olympic Committees.

They are designed to increase the diversity of participating nations across the sports programme of the Olympic Games.

During the trip to Thailand, Changalawe was accompanied by his trainer, Mohamed Abubakari (IBA 1 star) and the head of the expedition, Vice President of the Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC) Henry Tandau.