Zambian boxers, Mbachi Kaonga and Nkumbu Silungwe, have progressed to the semifinals of the African Senior Boxing Championships.
This year’s championship is being held in Brazzaville, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Welterweight boxer, Kaonga, made it to the semifinals by beating Ochaks Ajowi of Kenya.
Zambia’s lightweight champ, Silungwe, also clinched a spot in the semfinal by beating Pamelo Salakiaku of Angola.
This year’s quarterfinals were full of drama and controversy.
During several quarterfinal matches, the crowd started to shout out accusations of biased officiating on the part of the judges and referees.
According to Zambian Boxing Federation president, Kennedy Mubita, who attended the quarterfinals on Saturday night, the crowd started throwing objects into the ring while shouting at the referee and judges.
“The crowd pelted the referees and judges with all sorts of missiles and as a result, proceedings were halted for over an hour. Fights only resumed after riot police took their place inside the hall,” he said.
Mubita, however, seems to have agreed with the crowd, and accused the referee and judges of being biased against Zambian middleweight boxer, Ben Muziyo.
“Muziyo was one of the victims of poor officiating. He clearly won the contest but we were robbed. The judges gave the fight to Abdelaal Hesham Yehia Mahmoud of Egypt,” he said.