BFK set to unveil Kenyan team to Zone Three Boxing Championships

With several days left till the 2023 Zone Three Boxing Championships kick off at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania later this month, the Boxing Federation of Kenya is on Friday afternoon expected to name its full squad that will represent the country in the annual championships.

Speaking to Mozzart Sport on Thursday, national team head coach Musa Benjamin - fresh off an assignment with the women’s team in the IBA Women’s World Championships in New Delhi, India - confirmed that after a meeting with BFK President Anthony Ombok on Friday, he will announce the team of both male and female boxers who will grace the April 18-22 tourney.

Thursday saw Ethiopia and hosts Tanzania announce their contingent of boxers for the championships with the latter including 2022 Commonwealth Games light-heavyweight bronze medalist Yusuf Changalawe in their squad of 22 pugilists.

“Our plan will mainly involve us having more male boxers take part in the event as we eye the upcoming IBA men’s World Championships in Tashkent,” Musa Benjamin said. “On top of that we will also include a few ladies and see where their levels are at,” he said.

The zone championships, come hot on the heels of a rather disappointing outing for the Kenya women’s boxing team as they only secured one win in the IBA Women’s World Championships in India - thanks to a preliminary stage victory by Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Christine Ongare - with the other nine boxers all failing to move past their first bouts.

“I would call our performances a mixed bag,” Musa commented on Kenya’s performances last month. “As I said earlier, for coaches we have a different view on things and to my assessment, we had some brave fights in there that gave us a reason to sense improvement but a few of our performances were under-par and showed stagnation.”

Musa however confirmed that some of the female boxers who impressed will get another stab in the zonal championships as they look at ways in which the overall competition is going to improve for Hit Squad.

“The women’s side isn't as deep as compared to the male side and so we need to grasp any opportunity in an outside tournament,” the former boxer said.

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Kenya finished second in last year’s championships behind the hosts; Democratic Republic of Congo with a medal haul of 17 medals; six golds, five silvers and six bronze.

So far seven countries have confirmed participation in the championships that will also include Star 1 coaching courses run parallel to the event and they include; Kenya, Tanzania, DRC, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Somalia and Burundi.