National Youth and Junior Boxing Championship: Nairobi County boxers come out top in Day 1

Nairobi county, constituting majority of the boxers present at the ongoing Boxing Federation of Kenya (BFK) Youth and Junior Championships at Pumwani Hall (Nairobi), made their numbers count; producing the most number of winners (4) after Day One's action.

Following them closely was Kenya Police - with three winners as Kenya Prisons, Meru, Busia, Embu and Murang'a counties wrapped up with two victors each.

The day kicked off with teams registration and a series of medical checks to the young boxers - some of whom had just cut short the remaining days of their holidays to make it to the event.

A group of 42 boxers were selected to trade leather in the afternoon - totalling 21 bouts that were subdivided into three age categories.

The opening 12 fights comprised the minimum weight youths ( 17-18 years) while the next two sessions had the juniors (15-16 years) and 13-14 year olds to conclude activities.

Youth Championship to kick start busy boxing calendar year

Murang'a's Charles Murage was the first winner, seeing off Kenya Prisons' Evan Nyamu on points as Nairobi County's Jackson Malombe landed some heavy shots forcing the match referee to stop his contest against Embu's Abdul Qarim in the second fight.

A string of lopsided bouts followed as IBF Youth Championship trials finalist Chris Musyoki, Kajiado's Abdi Aziz and Dennis Muiya (Kenya Police) saw off their opponents with ease - winning all three rounds.

Perhaps the most thrilling victory of the day came in the last youths contest - as Murang'a's Derrick Angiella obliterated Brayan Abukheri (Kenya Prisons) with strong jabs and landed shots in all rounds.

He was impressed with his performance, thanking his head coach Julius Theuri for excellent preparation.

"The fight ended up as we had planned," Angiella, 17, said after the win. "The preliminaries are easy and so I expected to get the win. My goal is to make the cut to the finals and make my club (G44) proud."

In the juniors category, Meru's John Maina beat Nicholas Muoo of Kenya Police on points, with Erick Chauu (Embu) convincingly dispatching his county counterpart Daniel Charles.

Budding talent Rolex Odhiambo - with many eyes on him, produced a remarkable performance beating Kenya Police's Daniel Otieno on the referee's call.

Watching him keenly was national team head coach Musa Benjamin, who despite being impressed by the youngsters, was thrilled to see those many boxers turn out for the event.

"This is very encouraging," Musa said of the talent on scene. "Our goal is to spot talent and nurture it because this will present our look for the future. Rolex and Brighton Juma (Busia) have really impressed me today."

Closing out the thirteen year olds category were gutsy wins for Aaron Shidagwa and David Karanja - both of Kenya Prisons as Busia's George Bravin saw off Julius Omunanga in the last fight.

"I just feel good," an emotional Karanja said after his win. "Only God knows why I won. He gave me strength to see out the three rounds. I am so happy."

With a grandiose of other preliminary match-ups left, BFK urged all participants to arrive Friday by 11am, with action set to begin from 11:30am.

This Friday's slate is expected to involve over 50 boxers, as per the competitions secretary John Waweru.