Nairobi to name team for boxing championship
Nairobi County will pick a team to compete in this year’s Kenya Open Championships next week.
Nairobi County Boxing Association’s secretary, Musa Benjamin on Thursday said the team will be selected during the Open Championships set for St Teresa’s Church Hall next Friday before embarking on rigorous training for the Kenya Open tournament set for next month.
John Kameta, the Boxing Association of Kenya chairman, has confirmed the Kenya Open will take place next month.
ELIGIBLE BOXERS
Benjamin said: “The event is meant for pugilists who have passed the national intermediate championship. We expect 10 clubs to take part, each featuring a boxer in every weight category.”
Benjamin also said they expect a big turn-out as last year’s winners of the national intermediate tournament did not get a chance to showcase their skills following BAK’s failure to hold the Kenya Open Championships.
The Kenya Open Championship played a major role in raising standards of Kenya’s boxing.
At the time, the competition of the Nairobi event was the stiffest. Back then, Nairobi was home to top clubs like Kenya Breweries, Posta, Kimbo and Kenya Railways. All of them have since collapsed.
Three Kenyan boxers – bantam-weight Benson Gicharu (Kneya Police), welter-weight Rayton Okwiri (Kenya Prisons) and middle-weight Nick Abaka (Kenya Defence Forces) are not recognized as national champions like their counterparts from other part of the world as they have not taken part in the Kenya Open Championship.