2020 ‘make or break’ for Nyika’s Olympic dream
At a glance
Chaos and controversy are nothing new to David Nyika in an Olympic year, but only dodging the epicentre of the coronavirus at the last minute was still scary as the Hamilton heavyweight stands at a crossroads in his career.
Nyika is New Zealand’s best prospect for a boxing medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics – a feat no Kiwi has pulled off since David Tua’s heavyweight bronze in Barcelona in 1992 – but he must qualify first.
Tua was New Zealand’s third Olympic medallist in boxing after Ted Morgan (welterweight gold in Amsterdam in 1928) and Kevin Barry (light heavyweight silver in Los Angeles in 1984), but no Kiwi fighter has emerged as a realistic medal hope since.
Not even Joseph Parker, a former heavyweight world champion in the professional ranks after a decent amateur career, could negotiate the tricky qualifying path to an Olympic Games.
Neither could Nyika four years ago, despite featuring in adverts for the Rio Olympics.
A controversial qualifying defeat to Uzbekistan’s Rustam Tulaganov was followed by a narrow loss to Dutchman Roy Korving, ending his Olympic dream for 2016.
Nyika bounced back to win a second Commonwealth Games gold medal on the Gold Coast two years later, proving his light heavyweight gold in Glasgow in 2014 was no flash in the pan.
Via a training camp in Assisi, Italy, the 24-year-old will be among New Zealand’s team of nine amateur boxers leaving next Friday for next month’s Asian/Oceanian Olympic qualifying event in Amman, Jordan.
Nyika said it was ‘‘make or break’’ this year as the lure of turning professional lingers.
‘‘It feels like the end of the line for me. Whatever happens at the Olympics will decide where my future takes me,’’ he told Stuff.
‘‘It’s exciting but it’s also high stress and it has been a gruelling few years building for this event.’’
Preparations for the Asian/ Oceanian qualifiers have been chaotic after the event was originally scheduled for Wuhan, China from February 3-14, but the outbreak
New Zealand’s Olympic boxing medals:
1928, Amsterdam: Gold for Ted Morgan (men’s welterweight
1984, Los Angeles: Silver for Kevin Barry (men’s light heavyweight) 1992, Barcelona: Bronze for David Tua (men’s heavyweight)
2020 Tokyo Olympics boxing qualifiers for Asia/Oceania Where, when: Amman, Jordan, March 3-11
Boxing New Zealand team: Women: Tasmyn Benny (51kg), Amy Andrew (57kg), Troy Garton (60kg), Ariane Nicholson (69kg)
Men: Dominic Roe (69kg), Ryan Scaife (75kg), Jerome Pampellone (81kg), David Nyika (91kg), Uila Mau’a (91+kg)
of the coronavirus there led to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) cancelling it.
The Kiwi team and its support staff were only four days away from travelling to Wuhan from their training camp in Thailand when the cancellation was announced.
‘‘We had to pretty much up and leave straight away in case the virus were to spread any further,’’ Nyika said. ‘‘So we came home as soon as we heard and got straight back into training.’’
As of this week, the virus had infected more than 40,000 people and killed more than 1000 – mostly in China.
The IOC then announced the qualifiers would be held in Jordan instead, but a month later (March 3-11), so those aiming to peak for Wuhan had to readjust their rigorous training schedules.
The top five fighters from each weight category in Jordan will qualify but it will not be the last chance.
There is the final world Olympic qualifying tournament in May in Paris, France, although it’s notoriously difficult to qualify from that.
Nyika is still funded by High Performance Sport New Zealand and works with their strength and conditioning coach Shaun Paterson, while also training with his brother and dad, Josh and Simon, and super lightweight boxer Cairo George.
An underwhelming round-of-16 exit in last year’s amateur world championships in Russia has been offset by strong performances in events around Europe and Australia in the last 12 months.
Nyika is ranked 13th in the men’s heavyweight 91kg category.
‘‘The last year of boxing has probably been my best,’’ he said. ‘‘I’m just looking forward to being able to put it all on display come Tokyo 2020.’’