Aug 1 (Reuters) – Boxer Tarona Taafaki made history for Tuvalu when she won the Pacific island nation’s first ever Commonwealth Games medal in Glasgow, without winning a single bout.
Taafaki, one of five entrants in the women’s 75kg category, received a bye to the semi-finals where she lost to India’s Lovlina Borgohain on Friday.
The Commonwealth Games does not hold bronze medal bouts and all boxers eliminated in the semis receive bronze medals.
“I’m very proud and very glad to be able to represent my country on this big stage,” said 20-year-old Taafaki, one of only eight athletes and para athletes from the country at the Commonwealth Games.
Tuvalu has a population of just over 10,000 people.
“Probably 95% of the audience don’t know where my country is, so I feel very privileged to represent Tuvalu,” Taafaki added.
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in BengaluruEditing by Shri Navaratnam)
