Boxing: He made it
Andrique Alissop beat Shili to qualify for the Olympics
There was a lot of suspense and questions on whether Andrique Alissop had really qualified for the Rio Olympic Games in August this year. And the 60kg pugilist cleared all doubts in the ring by beating the Tunisian boxer 3-0 late on Saturday night and thus added his name to the Seychelles team bound for the Olympics. Surely this has brought a very big sense of relief for the boxer as Seychelles’ hope for another Olympic qualification rested on his shoulders. This is because his two compatriots at the Olympic qualifying championship in Yaoundé, Cameroon, Jovet Jean and Keddy Agnes got injured and could not continue.
Apparently Tunisian Alaa Shili had received the go ahead by the medical people at the Championship to fight for the third place Olympic qualifying position against Alissop. There were doubts as to whether he would make it in the ring after he received a technical knock-out in the semifinals after only one minute bout against Egyptian Mahmoud Abdelaal with a severe facial injury.
But it seemed that the injury was not that bad as he was in the ring to fight Alissop on Saturday night and the Seychellois pugilist must have fought with fierce determination to come out with a 3-0 victory. The local boxing federation Secretary General, Edmond Folette said that all of Seychelles should be happy for this result. “I am more satisfied that Alissop won his qualification in the ring by beating an opponent rather than getting it by walkover. It makes his qualification more significant knowing that he fought hard for it,” he told TODAY sports.
Alissop thus becomes the third Seychellois to qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio after sailor Rodney Govinden and windsurfer Jean-Marc Gardette. Top Seychellois high jump specialist, Lissa Labiche is the next athlete who will attempt to qualify for the games soon.
The Seychelles delegation in Yaoundé is expected back early this week. This is surely good news for boxing and hopefully this will spur members of the federation to solve the executive committee election issues at their next meeting so that Alissop can continue his preparations.
With the right training and preparations his next target should be giving Seychelles a maiden historic medal at the Olympic Games. This should indeed be his next big challenge.
Source: Today.sc 3-21-16