Ugandan boxer Aziz Abdul was disqualified and stripped of his silver medal after punching Egypt’s Mohamed Hossen following the final bell at the African Boxing Championships in Nairobi.
Abdul, the 25-year-old grandson of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and known as “Ringo”, lost his chance to win gold in the 90kg final after striking Hossen on the back of the head.
The incident happened moments after the bell. Abdul initially moved away from the contest, but then turned and punched his Egyptian opponent as Hossen was walking away from him.
Hossen fell to the canvas after the blow, prompting officials to intervene and immediately disqualify Abdul. The Ugandan left the ring before Hossen was formally announced as the winner.
Abdul’s punishment went beyond losing the chance to claim the gold medal. Because he had reached the final, he had been due to receive silver, but officials also removed that medal from him.
Second major disqualification
It is the second high-profile occasion in a matter of months on which Abdul has been excluded from a major competition for an infringement.
He suffered the same fate at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July, when he was disqualified during his quarter-final against England’s Damar Thomas in the super-heavyweight competition.
On that occasion, judges ruled that Abdul had used his head against Thomas. The decision came after he had already received two warnings, with a third infringement ending his participation in the tournament.
After being disqualified, Abdul criticised the officiating and accused the judges of showing bias and racism towards African boxers, according to the British newspaper The Sun.
Before arriving in Scotland, Abdul had said he wanted to become the “new King of Scotland”. The comment referred to one of the titles used by his grandfather, Idi Amin, during his rule in Uganda.
Idi Amin seized power in Uganda in 1971 and governed the country for eight years before being overthrown and forced into exile.
His rule was associated with widespread human rights abuses and mass killings, with the number of victims estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands. He was also known for adopting grandiose titles, including “King of Scotland”.
