S. GitahiHit Squad coach: Kenyan boxing standards showing improvement
Reading Time: 2min | Mon. 06.02.23. | 10:19
The recently concluded Kenya Novices Championship was Boxing Federation of Kenya's second event in this year’s calendar
Following brilliant showing from young amateurs in the Boxing Federation of Kenya National Novices championships that culminated over the weekend at the Umoja 1 Boxing Hall, national team head coach Benjamin Musa has been left optimistic with the future of the sport and its remarkable improvement.
Speaking to Mozzart Sport, Musa, who was paying keen attention to the action, was also thankful to the federation for lending a helping hand to young boxers and coaches by regularly hosting yearly club and county-based tournaments that exposed them to challenging bouts while still offering boxers a path to inching closer to the national team set-up.
“I am so delighted that young boxers are getting such opportunities early on into their careers,” Musa said. “Over the years we’ve been really keen on handing boxers early exposure and its motivating to see all stakeholders including coaches and fans here. It helps a lot.”
Boxing Federation of Kenya was holding its second event in this year’s calendar – bringing together over 60 young boxers in the three day championships that began Thursday.
“The standards have really improved,” Musa remarked on the slow progress noted in grass-root boxing. “Everything from ring craft, coaching and officiating has been satisfying to watch.”
Asked about some of the exciting talents he had noted down, Musa singled out two Nairobi county boxers - Emmanuel Mswahili (Minimum-weight) and Francis Lennox (Welterweight) as who would in the near future get a shot in the junior national teams.
Junior boxing had its own share of disappointment in the 2022 – with a group of 10 boxers missing the trip to the Junior Championships in La Nucia, Spain – but quickly rebounded with a strong performance in the East Africa Tournament held in Tanzania this January.
With a couple of Youth Championships lined up in March and September, Musa was hopeful that Kenya would be represented going by the apparent support shown by Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba.
“The CS came over and was delighted with our organization and talent on show,” Musa said. “We’ve held talks around how the game can be further improved. That would include growing county and national boxing, training judges, technical officials and coaches on the basics and fundamentals of the game.”
With the National Novices done, the winners will move on to take part in the National Intermediates in Kajiado next month, with the National Opens scheduled for April.
