Day: May 22, 2022

ISTANBUL— Five African fighters took home medals from the Women’s Boxing World Championships in the Turkish city of Istanbul, with three of them silver.

On Thursday evening Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Mozambique’s Helena Panguane missed out on gold medals to take home silvers instead as they lost to Irish opponents.

Moroccan heavyweight Khadija Mardi had a chance to go one better when she took on local boxer Sennur Demir in the final bout of the championships on Friday, but lost on a split decision.

Mardi – who battled a partisan home crowd when taking on the 39-year-old – won a middleweight bronze at the last edition of the championships in Russia.

In the light-middleweight category, Panguane lost on a 4-1 split decision to Lisa O’Rourke.

O’Rourke, 20, from Roscommon, ran out a comfortable winner, although she went into the final round level on two cards.

The Irish fighter appeared comfortable on the back foot throughout the fight and won the first two rounds 3-2 on the judges cards, but a 10-8 score in Panguane’s favour from one judge ensured the contest remained firmly in the balance going into the final round.

It was in the final three minutes that O’Rourke moved onto the front foot and, although Panguane remained dangerous with smart counter shots, the tide was moving in favour of the Roscommon native who claimed a deserved win.

Khelif, who fought at the Tokyo Olympics last year, lost to Amy Broadhurst in the light-welterweight division with all five judges awarding the fight to the Irish fighter.

Broadhurst displayed supreme control in an utterly convincing display in which she outworked Khelif and dictated the pace of the three-round bout from start to finish.

Another Algerian, Ichrak Chaib, won bronze after a narrow 3-2 loss to Canada’s Charlie Cavanagh in the welterweight semi-finals on Wednesday.

And Mozambique’s Rady Gramane also claimed a bronze medal after her loss to another Canadian as Tammara Thibeault ran out 5-0 winner in the middleweight division.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

GENEVA— The World Health Organization said it expects to identify more cases of monkeypox as it expands surveillance in countries where the disease is not typically found.

As of Saturday, 92 confirmed cases and 28 suspected cases of monkeypox have been reported from 12 member states that are not endemic for the virus, the UN agency said, adding it will provide further guidance and recommendations in coming days for countries on how to mitigate the spread of monkeypox.

“Available information suggests that human-to-human transmission is occurring among people in close physical contact with cases who are symptomatic”, the agency added.

Monkeypox is an infectious disease that is usually mild, and is endemic in parts of west and central Africa. It is spread by close contact, so it can be relatively easily contained through such measures as self-isolation and hygiene.

The outbreak in 11 countries where it is not endemic is highly unusual, according to scientists. More than 100 confirmed or suspected cases have been reported, most of them in Europe.

“What seems to be happening now is that it has got into the population as a sexual form, as a genital form, and is being spread as are sexually transmitted infections, which has amplified its transmission around the world,” WHO official David Heymann, an infectious disease specialist, said.

Heymann said an international committee of experts met via video conference to look at what needed to be studied about the outbreak and communicated to the public, including whether there is any asymptomatic spread, who are at most risk, and the various routes of transmission.

He said the meeting was convened “because of the urgency of the situation”. The committee is not the group that would suggest declaring a public health emergency of international concern, WHO’s highest form of alert, which applies to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said close contact was the key transmission route, as lesions typical of the disease are very infectious. For example, parents caring for sick children are at risk, as are health workers, which is why some countries have started inoculating teams treating monkeypox patients using vaccines for smallpox, a related virus.

Many of the current cases have been identified at sexual health clinics.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK