Coach Musa blames Okoth’s Olympics loss to poor officiating - Capital Sports
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Coach Musa blames Okoth’s Olympics loss to poor officiating

TOKYO, Japan, Jul 24 – National boxing team head coach Musa Benjamin believes Nick ‘Commander’ Okoth was robbed of victory in the featherweight round of 32 match against Mongolia’s Erdenebat Tsendbaatar here at the Tokyo Olympics.

Musa described the 2-3 points decision in favour of the Mongolian pugilist an ‘outrageous’ verdict.

Among the five-judge bench who were drawn from Cuba, Morocco, Azerbaijan, Thailand and Argentina, three scored in favour of the Mongolian while two went for the Kenyan.

Five judges score the boxers based on the number of blows landed on the target areas, domination of the bout, technique and tactical superiority.

Deductions can also be made based on infringement. At the end of every round, each judge determines a winner and award the victor 10 points for the round.

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.  

The loss to Tsendbaatar has since sent tongues wagging in Team Kenya’s boxing outfit with Musa saying: “It’s such a shame that AIBA are not the ones organising this tournament and I wouldn’t think elimination for my boxer when I believe he is a victim of poor officiating. It’s really absurd and it is not helping our sport either.”

“It’s the Olympic task force calling the shots and I believe it didn’t take time to get these judges together,” continued Musa.

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Musa says Okoth dominated the fight and threw the most solid punches. He goes on to explain that his man displayed competitiveness.

“It’s a bit surprising that the result didn’t go our way,” said coach Musa.

Musa added that in AIBA rules there is a clause that allows for timely protest. But in the Task Force setting, he went on: “The judges’ decision is final. They informed us about the protest aspect in the technical meeting so now we just have to take it that way. But it’s really sad when you know your boxer was the better of the two and that there is no avenue for protests.”

“What to do; we just have to take it in our stride and move on.”

Musa revealed that the Task Force are actually using AIBA R/Js “and all these judges are like working towards the downfall of the Task Force.”

Musa asserted that honesty should remain cardinal in scoring given the magnitude of the Games.

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.

“If it’s aggression or movement that they are looking for in scoring, then they should let us know prior. It’s no longer the technical facet of the game that really matters in my opinion,” added Musa.

-Okoth concedes-

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.”

“Being a lightweight, I had to move down to flyweight to make weight in the games and the Mongolian being a light fly, he moved up to flyweight. So, I had to take extra caution in the fight.”

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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.

“I have many medals and the Olympic medal was the only I was craving for. It’s not the end of life. I will remain focused and levelheaded.”

 Okoth, a younger sibling of Kuala Lumpur 1998 Commonwealth silver medalist Absalom Okinyi, says all is not lost.

“I believe I can get a gold in the Commonwealth Games as the Olympic medal aspirations are now done and dusted. It really sad though.”

Okoth may have been eliminated from the Olympics but he is glad though that he gave his all despite the result.

“I believe I gave the opponent a good fight and this is something he will remember for a long time. As I focus on the next Commonwealth Games, I believe I have made a statement from what I was able to display. It’s not the worst-case scenario where you are permanently on the receiving end. I took the fight to my opponent.”

-Alex Isaboke is reporting from Tokyo, Japan-

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