This archive report was first published on 24 July 2021.
Coach Musa Blames Okoth's Olympics Loss to Poor Officiating ¶
Published on July 24, 2021
Kenya's national boxing team head coach Musa Benjamin has expressed disappointment over the 2-3 points decision in favour of Mongolia's Erdenebat Tsendbaatar in the featherweight round of 32 match at the Tokyo Olympics.
According to Musa, the decision was an 'outrageous' verdict, and he believes that Nick 'Commander' Okoth was robbed of victory.
The five-judge bench, comprising judges from Cuba, Morocco, Azerbaijan, Thailand, and Argentina, scored the boxers based on the number of blows landed on the target areas, domination of the bout, technique, and tactical superiority.
Going into the determinant third round, the boxers were equal 3:2, 2:3, and it was the decisive round that the Mongolian scored more points.
Musa revealed that the Task Force are actually using AIBA R/Js and that all these judges are like working towards the downfall of the Task Force.
He called on the handlers of boxing at the Games to come up with a criteria for scoring because all countries are coming from different cultures of scoring.
Okoth, on his part, was left to rue his exit, saying, 'I knew the guy from previous fights. He is the kind of boxer who always goes for the kill right from the first round. So, the initial strategy was to evade his punches.'
Okoth was hoping to lay his hands on an Olympic medal as he is fighting in his last Olympics Games due to age.
He will already have attained 40 years by the next Olympic cycle and as such will not be eligible for Paris 2024.
Okoth, a younger sibling of Kuala Lumpur 1998 Commonwealth silver medalist Absalom Okinyi, says all is not lost.
He believes he can get a gold in the Commonwealth Games as the Olympic medal aspirations are now done and dusted.
