Kenyan boxers seek to redeem reputation at Paris Olympics
Boxing Federation of Kenya (BFK) will soon begin trials for its Elite team (men and women) that will participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics qualifiers.
The National Olympics Committee-Kenya (NOC-K) is in the process of releasing a schedule for qualifications with teams that will represent the country in France, next year. BFK, will begin trials from June 29 to July 23 at Charter Hall, Nairobi.
In a letter copied to all county boxing associations and league teams, BFK Secretary-General David Munuhe called for urgency and improved training from all boxers eyeing the qualification for global showbiz.
“We need to get ready and sweat it out ahead of the Olympics. We hope to improve our showing in France and that means proper and early preparations,” he said.
Only boxers above the intermediate level who are in the Olympic weights will be allowed to participate in the trials whose participation fee will be Sh2,000 per head. There will be seven categories in total for the men’s team while the women’s side will have six weight categories on offer - as they seek to come good from the last mishap in Tokyo held in 2020.
In men’s categories are: Flyweight (51 kilos), Featherweight (57 kilos), Light Welterweight (63.5 kilos), Light Middleweight (71 kilos), Light Heavy (80 kilos), Heavyweight (92 kilos) and Super Heavyweight (92 kilos).
The women’s categories are: Light Flyweight (50 kilos), Bantamweight (54 kilos), Featherweight (57 kilos), Lightweight (60 kilos), Welterweight (66 kilos) and Middleweight (75 kilos).
Team Kenya will be seeking to improve its performance at the Olympics after years of poor shows. So far, Kenya has won 50 medals in the last 13 editions of the Olympics, the only gold medal being in 1988 by the late Robert Wangila. Napunyi. The other countries that also bagged the prestigious award include Atlanta (1996), Athens (2004), Beijing (2008), London (2012) and Tokyo (2020).
Additionally, Kenya left the respective Olympic Games minus even a single medal which was the darkest hours of the once-famed sport as far as Kenya is concerned. 1972 and 1988, however, were the brightest moments for Kenyan boxers on the Olympic stage since they brought home a combined 28 medals from Munich and Seoul respectively.
