Kenya strikes more medals in weightlifing, taekwondo in Angola

Kenyan youngsters added six medals in weightlifting, taekwondo and boxing at the penultimate day of the African Youth Games to take the overall tally to 23 in Luanda, Angola on Thursday.

The day’s medal harvest for Kenya was opened by fast-rising weightlifter Amanda Linah who racked up two silver and a bronze in the snatch and clean and jerk categories for a rare triple feat in the 48kgs.

The teenager has experienced a remarkable and steady ascent in the sport after she also starred at the 2024 Africa Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championship held in Nairobi where she won six silver medals.

“I’m targeting the gold now in the next championship but I’m happy with my performance today. I’m really waiting to be a medalist at the Youth Olympics and together with my coach we’re working hard to achieve that. African Youth Games has been a good challenge and now I know where I’m and areas to improve going forward,” she said.

In the taekwondo contest, Racheal Wekesa, 15, settled for silver after losing 2-0 against Leyan Yasser Mohammed of Egypt, falling 13-1 and 7-3 in the Under 48kgs final.

In the boy’s Under 45kgs, Kenya’s Gideon Robert clinched bronze after losing to Issaka Mahamadou of Ivory Coast in the third-place contest.

Robert lost 6-3 in round one before his opponent put the game beyond the Kenyan teenager's reach with a 8-5 win in round two.

Kenya’s taekwondo under-17 team head coach Vincent Dock said his players picked invaluable lessons from the youthful championship ahead of the 2026 Youth Olympics in Dakar.

“It’s our first time to win silver and bronze in this kind of a championship and this shows that we’re making strides in the sport. It was a perfect stage to prepare for the Youth Olympics because we will meet these teams in Senegal,” said Dock.

Kenya was also in the podium in boxing after Clinton Omondi, who was making his debut at the continental stage, finished third after losing to Bofenda Mabela of DR Congo in the boy’s under 50kg fight.

“The journey to claim back the place of our boxing is already on and I want to assure the Kenyans that we will have a formidable team in Youth Olympics and Los Angeles Olympics in 2028,” said boxing under-17 team head coach Job Ochieng.

Thursday’s haul pushed Kenya’s medal overall tally to 23 with four gold, seven silver and 12 bronze.

Meanwhile, Kenya's boys 3x3 beach basketball team was eliminated from the Games after losing all three of their group matches on Wednesday.

The Kenyan side opened their Group C campaign with a narrow 13–10 loss to Equatorial Guinea before suffering a 15–14 defeat against Ivory Coast in their second match. They then fell 19–14 to hosts Angola in their final group fixture.

The results saw the boys, coached by Griffins Ligare exit the tournament at the group stage.