Nigel Paul booked his ticket to the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru after his first bout at the qualifiers in Nicaragua on Friday night. Also on course to qualify are Michael Alexander and Aaron Prince as the Pan Am Boxing Qualifiers continued on Friday night.
Paul beat Puerto Rican Amisael Jiminez on points which were enough to see him through. However, Tiana Guy and Andrew Fermin both lost. Guy had a bye that took her into the second round, but she was stopped by Ashleya an Lozada, the CAC Games champion. Fermin, on the other hand, went down on points to Luis Georges from Dominica.
Speaking to Guardian Media Sports after qualifying, Paul said, "It's a joyous feeling for me to qualify for my first Pan Am Games. The objective has been completed. Now moving further into the competition, I want to make it onto the podium, which will be the icing on the cake after already qualifying."
Meanwhile, Alexander was also pleased with his first performance at the qualifiers after seeing off Saul Gonzales of El Salvador. "I feel great about my first fight. I went in there and executed what I had to do, and fortunately, the fight ended very shortly after. I'm now looking towards my next fight," he said.
The target is now for Alexander and Prince to qualify. Head coach of the team Reynold Cox told Guardian Media Sports, "At this point, we have Paul already qualified with also Alexander and Prince on course to do so. Tyron Thomas, who is the 2018 Pan Am Championships bronze medalist is still in also so our hope is to qualify four boxers are looking good."
However, he noted the standard of the competition is an an extremely high level. He went further, "This is a very difficult tournament for us when you take into consideration what we have to work with at home. There are a lot of top teams in the competition. In 2011 and 2015, we only qualified one boxer so I think this year will be much better for us."
The qualifiers continued last night with Tyron Thomas in action.