GHANA’S ‘Hiroshima’ Lante Addy made history as the first medallist at the S.C.S.A. Zone III boxing championship which ended yesterday when he won his second fight to clinch the first gold at the competition last Wednesday. The flyweight, who had beaten Togo’s Nougloame Komlan on Tuesday, defeated Kafando Fousseni of Burkina Faso 4-1 to attain that honour.
Addy’s victory, in all measure, underlined the strength of the Black Bombers of Ghana who moved closer to an outstanding success when three others of their representatives defeated their respective opponents with convincing results on the second day of the competition, which ended yesterday.
Featherweight Yakubu Amidu, lightweight Thomas Aryeetey, and middleweight Thomas Awinbono all won against their respective opponents in their maiden bouts of the competition last Wednesday.
They defeated Kinda Ibrahim, Bande Saidou and Sawadogo Djibril (all of Burkina Faso) in respective fights on Wednesday to move within the range of the ultimate prize at the three-nation three-day competition.
Yakubu Amidu scored a 4-1 win over Ibrahim, who had defeated Togo’s Amouzou Dodzi a day earlier, in a fight that brought out the best from the two. The Burkinabe showed strong character in the initial stages but lost all that in the second and third rounds, as the Ghanaian subjected him to some sound beating.
While Thomas Aryeetey maintained the tempo with a breathtaking performance against Saidou to win the bout 5-0, welterweight Godwin Cudjoe disturbed the sweet trend when he failed to cope with the might of Kabore Idrissa, losing 0-5 at the end.
But when Awinbono took to the ring, he restored the celebration mood for the packed crowd. In two rounds, he set the competition ground alive when he knocked Djibril down, but shocked the audience when he sportingly held the Burkinabe to prevent him from falling off the ring. And although he survived the mandatory count, his corner threw in the towel to prevent the worst