A confident Morocco national boxing team of 23 boxers – 12 men and 11 women – has landed in Kinshasa with a Cuban head coach and sounded a warning to DR Congo’s team: “We are Moroccans, we are irresistible, we are persistent and we are here to beat you at home and retain our title.”
The Cuban coach, Austin Echemendia is part of a new technical team brought on board by the Royal Moroccan Boxing Federation (FRMB) to replace the previous one led by National Technical Director, Othmane Fadli which was dissolved after what the federation felt was a poor show in the Paris Olympics and failure by the male boxers to qualify for the Olympics.
Echemendia will be assisted by five Moroccan coaches who include three-time Olympian, 2015 gold and 2011 silver medallist in the Africa Elite Championships, Mohamed Arjaoui.
The national team coordinator, Nabil Hilmi, announcing the squad for DRC and the new changes, said in a sweeping move to inject new blood in the team, the Moroccans have selected 13 newcomers – seven men and six women – to bolster their title defence ahead of the highly anticipated Africa Elite Boxing Championships which gets underway today with arrival of teams, entry checks and draws and then the tournament proper starts on Wednesday, October 16.
The 13 boxers making their international debut were not handpicked but were selected in the national championships on merit.
“We have to build a new strong team, and give the upcoming boxers exposure at the big stage,” said Hilmi who has been mandated to shop around for the National Technical Director to replace Othmane Fadli. They have also recruited another Cuban coach, Juan Carlos, to handle the national team for the World Youth Championships in Montenegro this month.
Retained in the team for the big party in DRC are three female gold medallists in last year’s Africa Championships in Yaounde, world heavyweight champion Khadija Mardi, world bronze medallist Yasmine Mouttaki and African bantamweight queen, Widad Bertal including silver medallist in Yaounde Rabab Cheddar who now moves up to flyweight to pave way for Mouttaki who has vacated the minimumweight to exciting newcomer in the minimumweight class, Hafsa Elharouaq.
In men’s team, of the eight gold medallists in Yaounde, it’s only defending bantamweight champion Imad Azaoui who has been selected. He moves up to featherweight to replace injured Yaounde gold medallist Souleimane Samghouli. Also on the list is the 2022 Africa light-middleweight champion Hamza El Barbari.
Other regulars named in the DRC team include African Games minimumweight bronze medallist Hamza Essaadi, bronze medallist in Yaounde Abdelhaq Nadir who’ll feature in the welterweight division and African Games middleweight champion Yassine El Ouarz. Nadir, a gold medallist in the 2019 African Games in Rabat, is one of the longest serving members of the national team together with petit Mouttaki and towering Mardi who has represented Morocco’s national team for 11 years.
The four Yaounde gold medallists not named in the DRC team are flyweight Said Mortaji, featherweight Souleimane Samghouli, middleweight Mohamed Rabii and cruiserweight champion Mohamed Assaghir.
Credit: AFBC Communications
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