Sierra Leone’s female boxing champion, Sara Haghight-Joo has been crowned champion in the 2022 AFBC Boxing Championship in Maputo, Mozambique.
Sara clinched the gold medal after convincingly defeating the Algerian-born ABDELKADER HEDJALA Fatma Zohra in the final bout of the 52-54kg weight category in the continental championship on Saturday afternoon.
According to the judge’s scorecard, the Sierra Leone charismatic puncher won by a unanimous decision, thereby becoming the current African champion.
“I have more to deliver for Sierra Leone in subsequent boxing competitions”, Sara affirmed during the post-fight interview in Maputo.
She further apologized to the people of Sierra Leone for not doing the same in the just concluded commonwealth games in Birmingham due to her controversial disqualification.
Sara also called on the government of Sierra Leone to invest in boxing so that the country’s flag will continue to fly higher than expected on continental and world boxing platforms.
A record number of eleven countries earned gold medals in the new edition of the AFBC African Men’s & Women’s Elite Boxing Championships which took place in Mozambique’s capital city Maputo.
Mozambique team won five gold medals, Algeria and Zambia both earned four gold medals and displayed an amazing performance in this championship. Among the 24 participating nations, 18 claimed at least one medal in Mozambique’s capital city.
The boxers who were born between 1982 and 2003 were eligible to participate in the AFBC African Elite Boxing Championships.
Altogether 155 exciting bouts were held in the five-day-long continent championships in Maputo. The number of boxers at the AFBC African Elite Boxing Championships was 58 women and 121 men.
Sierra Leone sent a few boxers to the Commonwealth Games a few weeks ago and their management decided to participate at the AFBC African Elite Boxing Championships in Maputo. Sierra Leone is a developing Western African country but after the AFBC Championships in Maputo, the country is on the boxing map. Their boxer Sara Haghighat- Joo switched to Sierra Leone in 2020 and moved back to her most successful category to the bantamweight (54kg) in recent months.
The experienced boxer had the strong motivation to take a fantastic and historic gold medal in Maputo, and her full concentration against Algerian Fatma Zohra Abdelkader Hedjala guaranteed the title.
The competition returned to the boxing map after five years of break and 24 champions have been crowned in the competition. This was the first ever AFBC African Elite Boxing Championships which was hosted by the Mozambique Boxing Federation.