19-year old Takyi secures qualification for Tokyo 2020

Samuel Takyi – a 19-year-old boxing sensation from Ussher Town in Accra, on Saturday, won a unanimous decision over Isaac Masembe of Uganda in the third-place box off, at the Africa qualification tournament for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal.

He was the second Ghanaian boxer to qualify for Japan, after Skipper Suleman Tetteh.

It would be his first Olympic Games since he joined the amateur ranks.

However, 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist, Jessie Lartey and Shakul Samed who also won bronze at the 2019 African Games both lost their respective third-place box offs and failed to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games Tokyo.

They would be presented with another opportunity to make it to the global games in Tokyo by engaging in another qualifier in Paris, France in May.

Ghanaian boxers like Wahid Omar who was the sole representative at Rio 2016, Sakul Samed, Jessie Lartey and Ornella Sathoud must be offered another qualification chance.