Jessie Lartey defied the odds to overcome the tough challenge of Louis Macharno Colin of Mauritius to emerge winner of their round of 16 light welterweight cliffhanger at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia on Sunday.
Lartey nicked it 3-2 on the scorecards to run away with the slimmest of victories to qualify for the quarter finals at the expense of the Mauritian who had two of the five judges scoring all three rounds in his favour. The Ghanaian won all three rounds on the cards of two other judges whilst the fifth scored it 2-1 in favour of Lartey which proved decisive.
A veteran of two previous Commonwealth
Games in India 2010 and Glasgow 2014, 25 year old Lartey advances to the last eight of the super lightweight division at the 2018 event, hoping to go a step further than the round of 16 and quarter finals he made four and eight years ago respectively.
The Ghanaian will face 23 year old Sinethemba Blom of South Africa who won a split 4-1 decision against Colin Lewis of Guyana in the quarter finals on Tuesday at the same Oxenford Studios Boxing Arena with an eye on the semi finals as he seeks to make the medal zone for the first time in three attempts.
Meanwhile, another of Ghana’s medal hopefuls, Musah Rahman Lawson hopes his experience of only making the round of 32 in 2014 inspires him to overcome Cameroon’s Seyi Ntsengue in their last 16 clash later this evening.
Earlier on Saturday, Samuel Yaw Owusu became the first Ghanaian boxer to win at the 2018 Commonwealth Games after outpointing Nigeria’s Sikiru Ojo 4-1 to qualify for the quarter finals after Abdul Wahid Omar, Abubakari Kwesi Quartey and team captain, Sulemanu Tetteh all fell in the first round.
