GAMES: Marathoners flop, boxers in action

Dar es Salaam. Fabian Pius (64kg) restored smile at Team Tanzania’s camp after beating Steven Thanki of Malawi in a well-contested light welterweight fight at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland on Saturday.

Pius sent the Malawian packing on points (3-0), setting a date with a Northern Ireland boxer, Sean Duffy. The two were set to square up in the round of 16 last night.

Pius’ victory came on the night when Team Tanzania captain Selemani Kidunda (67kg) crashed out of the Games after slumping to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Nigerian Kehinde Ademuyiwa.

Another Tanzanian boxer, Nasser Mafuru, had his medal hopes dashed after failing to fight Jessie Lartey of Ghana due to abdominal problems.

In athletics, there was nothing important to write home about, after Fabiano Joseph and John Leonard flopped in marathon yesterday.

The 2006 Commonwealth Games silver medalist, Joseph, who was the country’s biggest medal hope, finished the grueling 42km race on position 11, clocking 02:15:16 hours.

Leonard could not finish the race, which saw Australian Michael Shelley claiming gold (2:11:15) while Kenyan Stephen Chemlany (2:15:21) won a silver medal with Ugandan Abraham Kiplimo (2:11:58) taking bronze.

With the chance of winning medals in Glasgow increasingly becoming slim, Tanzanians will be hoping for Emillian Patrick to shine today as he fights against Ugandan Bashir Nasir in the round of 16.

Hamad Furahisha will also be in action against Northern Ireland’s Paddy Barnes.

The country has already seen swimmers, jodokas and table tennis players kiss goodbye to the tournament.

It now remains to be seen whether the remaining athletes will break the 2010 jinx when they flew back home without medals.