A successful day for African boxers saw three advance to the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games boxing tournament.

Morocco’s African Games bantamweight champion Widad Bertal was the first to secure a spot in the quarters, followed by Zambia’s African Games flyweight champion Patrick Chinyemba and Cape Verde’s Africa bronze medallist David Pina. Bertal and Pina are set to clash in the quarter-finals on Friday, August 2. Although it would have been ideal for them to meet later in the tournament, their upcoming bout guarantees Africa its first medal, as one of them will advance to the semi-finals.

On July 31, Morocco’s world heavyweight champion Khadija Mardi, Mozambique’s Commonwealth Games light-middleweight silver medallist Tiago Muxanga, and Egypt’s gold medallist in the Africa Olympic qualifiers Omar Elawady will compete in the pre-quarterfinals.

So far, 11 African boxers have been eliminated from the competition. These include Egypt’s bantamweight Yomna Ayyad, Nigeria’s heavyweight Adam Olaore, Zambia’s flyweight Margret Tembo, Morocco’s flyweight Yasmine Mouttaki, Nigeria’s lightweight Cynthia Ogunsemilore, Algeria’s lightweight Hadjila Khelif, Algeria’s light-welterweight Jugurtha Ait Bekka, Algeria’s super-heavyweight Mourad Kadi, DR Congo’s featherweight Marcelat Sakobi, Mali’s Fatoumata Camara, and Egypt’s super-heavyweight Abdelrahman Orabi.

The latest eliminations occurred on Tuesday, July 30, when Sakobi lost a close 3-2 match against Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova, Fatoumata was defeated 5-0 by Turkey’s featherweight Esra Yildiz, and Orabi was also beaten 5-0 by Azerbaijan’s super-heavyweight Murad Allaverdiyev.

African boxers who have won their bouts include Tiago Muxanga and Alcinda Dos Santos of Mozambique, Morocco’s Widad Bertal, Zambia’s Patrick Chinyemba, and Cape Verde’s David Pina.

The boxers yet to fight are Algeria’s flyweight Roumaysa Boualam, Tunisia’s featherweight Khouloud Hlimi, female welterweights Imane Khelif of Algeria, Cape Verde’s Ivanusa Moreira, DR Congo’s Brigitte Mbabi, Egypt’s light-middleweight Omar Elawady, and Morocco’s heavyweight Khadija Mardi.