Nyika bounces back to win national title
Waikato’s David Nyika had to roll with the punches to win his fifth national boxing title in Rotorua recently.
It wasn’t his rival for the heavyweight title that gave him the most bother – Nyika saw off Wellington’s Thomas Russell with a technical knockout in the second round.
Instead, one of the country’s most promising amateurs had to deal with the lingering disappointment of failing to qualify for the Rio Olympics earlier this month. Nyika was beaten in the second round of his final Olympic qualifying event in Azerbaijan by Dutchman Roy Korving.
‘‘This has been one of my biggest challenges as a boxer, coming away from the disappointment of not qualifying for the Olympics,’’ Nyika wrote on his Instagram account.
‘‘I’ve hated every moment of training for the past 3 weeks and felt I had every right to bail on this competition. However I’m loyal to the sport and continue to remind myself that it’s tests like these that define who I am. Huge thanks to coach Rik Ellis for scooping me up off my butt when times were hard. Thanks also to my sports psych Dave Galbraith for the fresh perspective.’’
The 20-year-old isn’t planning to turn professional, with one of his next targets being a second Commonwealth Games gold medal, at the Gold Coast in 2018.