Rio 2016: Ajagba lost to inexperience —Obisia Nwamkpa News

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Rio 2016: Ajagba lost to inexperience —Obisia Nwamkpa

By Maduabuchi Kalu on August 25, 2016

Former national boxing coach, Obisia Nwamkpa, said the Nigerian sole representative in the boxing event of the recently concluded Rio Olympic Games, Efe Ajagba, lost to inexperience and lack of technical inputs from the supposedly coaches that led him to the Games in Brazil.

He explained that Ajagba lacks the technical ability to prosecute his fight against his opponent at the quarterfinal of the boxing event in his category because he didn’t have two to three of the four technical ways of approaching a boxing bout. He described Ajegba as a straight jacket boxer who approaches every fight the same way without knowing that every bout is different and suppose to be approached differently.

Speaking further, Nwamkpa said he watched the bout between Ivan Dychko of Kazakhstan who defeated Ajegba and Dychko was beaten like a small boy in his semifinal bout by the British boxer, Joe Joyce.

He said the excuse by Ajagba that he had never fought a boxer of the size of the Dychko does not arise in the first place saying had it been that he had the technique; he would have done better knowing that there are no two bouts that are same.

“Look, as far as I am concerned, Efe Ajagba lost to his Kazakhstan opponent, Ivan Dychko in the quarterfinal due to lack of experience,” Nwamkpa said.

“Ajagba does not have any experience that is the reason he lost his match against Dychko in the quarterfinals. He has the power but he is a slow boxer even his power is limited. I am saying this because if actually he has power, he would have used his power against the Dychko but no, he only ended up giving excuses why he lost.

“It is a pity that Ajagba is a straight jacket fighter which means he does not have other technical ways of approach in boxing. He failed to realise that every boxing bout is different and supposed to be approached differently. Had it been that he had approached the fight from different perspectives from the way he approached the fight he won before the quarterfinal bout against Dychko, maybe the result would have been different. That is why I said he lost due to inexperience.

“As for me, I do not buy into the excuse that the Kazakhstan boxer was huge and strong. Before the bout what did he expect? Did he expect to face a sick or weak person? That is where experience comes in.

“Is it not the same person he was complaining about that was beaten like a baby by the British boxer, Joe Joyce despite the fact that the British boxer was slow in his approach to the bout? But he was able to get the job done because he has the technical competence and sound bench but Ajagba was alone in Rio.

“I said he was alone in Rio because I didn’t see the input of the two coaches that led him to Rio in his fight. Boxing in any sporting meets is amateur, so the boxers don’t know anything in respect of the sport. They rely heavily on their coaches for success but I didn’t see what contributions the two coaches made in Ajagba’s fights.

“You don’t make an inexperienced coach a national coach because he does not know what it takes to give technical input to a boxer at the big events. If you were observant during the Games, you will realise that the coaches that led athletes from other countries to the competition were old people and not young people.

“It was only Nigeria that paraded inexperienced young men as national coaches and the result was that they had no answer to technical problems of Ajagba.

“It is improper to appoint a young man a national coach because he lacks experience. You just can’t appoint someone a national coach because you are the Director General of the National Sports Commission or because you are the technical director. That is why you never see them dish out any instruction to Ajegba during his fights. They were just sitting down and were looking like morons. So there is need for us to change the way we do things if we must reposition our sports,” Nwamkpa admonished.

•Photo shows Olympic pugilist Efe Ajagba.

Source Daily Sports

Posted August 25, 2016