Nigeria has listed 11 boxers to compete at the 13th African Games and two of them believe the squad has the wherewithal to dominate the boxing event in Accra.
Adam Olaore, who booked his place at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will be making his debut at the African Games having dominated the light-heavyweight division in Africa said he would continue to consolidate on his dominance in his division by claiming the highest prize in Accra.
“This is my first African Games and I want nothing less than the gold medal because I have the experience from the African Championships in Cameroon as well as the Olympic Qualifying tournament in Senegal where I dominated my division. I am familiar with most of my possible opponents at the African Games and it will just be like a rematch for me and win them better than what I had done before,” he told Sports Africana from the team camp in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Like Olaore, Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Ifeanyi Onyekwere will want to use the game to convince the world of his potential in the ring.
Onyekwere who missed out from the qualifying tournament in Dakar, Senegal said nothing can stop him from making the podium in Ghana. “I am excited and grateful that I was picked to be part of the team; though it was not easy. We had four trials in camp and I came out victorious in all of them,” he said.
“My target in Ghana is to win the gold medal and that is my dream. I have been dreaming and working so hard for it since last year, and I believe in God’s power within me, I am going to achieve it,” he added.
Specifically, Onyekwere identified Algeria’s Mourad as one of the boxers that may be hard to floor in Ghana, but said: “The Algerian boxer won the gold medal in my weight category at the Olympic Qualifiers in Senegal and he is a good boxer like me but I am ready for him as I have been training since last year for this that I had to skip the festive period to work on myself. I am always in the gym working hard to ensure I make the team and represent well at the African Games in Ghana.”
Since he made his debut for Nigeria at the 2023 African Championships, Olaore has established himself as a boxer to reckon with his powerful punch and the conviction to match it. His accomplishments in the ring has surpassed his age that at 22, he is already an African champion, and has won events that have been a stepping stone for British Olympic gold medallists Nicola Adams and Anthony Joshua.
To berth in Paris, Olaore defeated Mohammed Houmri of Algeria in the men’s -92kg to deny Houmri a chance to appear at back-to-back Olympics with a 4-0 win in the final.