David Nyika has become the first Kiwi male boxer to qualify for the Olympics since 2004 as he finally broke through to become an Olympian.
Courtesy of the coronavirus, in the last month Nyika's travelled to Asia, Europe and now the Middle East before finally qualifying for his first Olympics today.
Emotions bubbled over for Nyika after his unanimous points win in the quarter finals of the qualifying event in Jordan. His grandfather’s funeral was held today with the young boxer 15,000km away.
The 24-year-old Hamiltonian becomes the first New Zealand male to make the Olympics since 2004 after being a poster boy for Rio 2016 before he surprisingly missed out on qualifying.
The double Commonwealth Games gold medallist is the only boxer fully funded by High Performance Sport NZ.
Nyika stepped into the ring with heavyweight Junior Fa and UFC star Israel Adesanya.
“He'll have a great build up, and our aim is to win this tournament obviously. He wins, he has a very good chance of being seeded at the Olympics, which means David Nyika is a fantastic shot for a medal at the Olympics,” Boxing New Zealand high performance director Mark Keddell said.
There's still hope Nyika won't be the only Kiwi boxer in Tokyo, with self-funded Aucklanders Jerome Pameppellone and Troy Garton aiming for a last chance tournament in France in May.
“They've both indicated they're going to Paris. We're going to support them going to Paris,” Keddell said.
New Zealand's last Olympic boxing medal was won nearly 30 years ago when heavyweight David Tua won bronze in Barcelona in 1992.
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