Rio Olympics: Boxing: Nigeria’s Efe Ajagba starts with a bang

Nigeria’s sole representative in the boxing event of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Efe Ajagba, is through to the quarter-finals.

Ajagba qualified for the quarter-finals in emphatic style as he knocked out Trinidad and Tobago’s Nigel Paul in round one to progress into the last eight.

Ajagba, who told PREMIUM TIMES before going to Rio that his mission was to end the 20-year medal drought that has plagued Nigeria in boxing at the Olympics, will now face Ivan Dychko from Kazakhstan in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.

A win for Ajagba against Dychko will see him guaranteed at least a bronze medal.

The last time Nigeria won a medal in boxing at the Olympics was in Atlanta 1996 when Duncan Dokiwari won a bronze medal.

Ajagba, who won bronze at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland and gold at the 2015 All Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville, is hoping to be the next boxer to have an Olympic medal around his neck.

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Tunde Eludini

Tunde Eludini is a graduate of the Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Nigeria where he studied International Relations. He is a Senior Correspondent coordinating the sports section for PREMIUM TIMES. Twitter: @tundeyeludini

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