Jasmine Daunakamakama beat Singapore’s Keshani Hansika in the Women\u2019s 57kg category to guarantee at least a bronze.<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old is Fiji’s first female boxer to compete internationally, and has had a fantastic run to the semi-finals.<\/p>\n
Daunakamakama credits an important factor in her success: ‘mana’, a belief system found across Polynesian and Melanesian communities.<\/p>\n
“I believe there’s two sides of us, “There’s an internal war inside all of us where we’re constantly fighting between the ego and our true self, which is the spirit. The mana is the will to overcome the fears because the fears are what’s not real.<\/p>\n
Jasmine Daunakamakama<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat empowers me is the traditional way we see. We don\u2019t value status or the external value of this world, but are more grounded with nature and what is real.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old will hope to channel the mana in her semi-final, in which she faces Birmingham 2022 champion Michaela Walsh, of Northern Ireland, who has secured her fourth Games medal after her victory over Scottish teenager Lara Brown.<\/p>\n
Medals for Mauritius, Trinidad and Tobago<\/p>\n
Former African Games champion Merven Clair (MRI) secured a convincing win in the Men\u2019s 70kg tournament, beating Ghana’s Precious Akai Nettey.<\/p>\n
It was a special moment for 33-year-old Clair who is at his last Commonwealth Games, having made his debut in 2014 in Glasgow. After exiting at the quarter-final stage in 2022, he is guaranteed his first medal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel good because I worked very hard for this competition,” Clair said. “I know that it is my last Commonwealth Games and it is my fourth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI start here in Glasgow (in 2014), but in Birmingham, it was too painful for me, so I decided to make at least the last Games, and to bring home a medal.”<\/p>\n
Merven Clair of Team Mauritius looks on against Pasoni Taafaki of Team Tuvalu during the Men’s 70kg Round of 16 match on day four of the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games<\/p>\n
Photography Francois Nel\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
To reach the final he must overcome Wales’ Orlando Holley-Sotomi who won in the first round against Lesotho’s Refiloe Thai by knockout.<\/p>\n
Trinidad and Tobago’s Nigel Paul also made it into the semi-finals for the first time, in the Men\u2019s 90+kg tournament.<\/p>\n
Paul has twice lost to an eventual finalist in the quarter-finals, but with this win, he has secured at least a bronze – his nation’s first boxing medal since Michael Alexander made the podium at Glasgow 2014.<\/p>\n
\u201cHats off to the coaches being able to understand the landscape of the match,\u201d said Paul, who praised his corner for overturning a 4-1 deficit in round 1 on his way to a unanimous-decision win.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been to the Olympic Games, I have a medal at the world championships and this is my last Commonwealth appearance.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be the flagbearer for my country and also secure a medal, this is a really special Games to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul faces India’s Narender Narender for a place in the final.<\/p>\n