By Omulo Okoth
Kenyan sole qualifier at the London Olympics is a distressed man.
The Kenya Police boxer, Benson Gacheru, has been paying for his training when his opponents are training in Cuba and other European nations for the Games.
“I train with Police in the morning, but I go for the gym and aerobics in the afternoon, which I pay from my own pocket,” Gacheru told FeverPitch yesterday. He says he pays Sh300 per day for the gym in Ruaraka.
The flyweight boxer says he needs exposure because Olympics is a big thing.
“My opponent (in the recent qualifiers) in Morocco, Oteng Oteng of Botswana was sent to Cuba and will proceed to Venezuela and Ukraine before returning home for the final circuit.
“Here I am running my own programme, only with coach Patrick Waweru,” he said.
“I expect to meet him in the Olympics again, but I am sure I will be at a disadvantage, given the lack of exposure. Even athletes only excel after running against the best opponents,” he said.
“I appeal to the Government to plan training opportunities for me in Cuba and other good boxing nations like Germany or Russia,” he said.
Gacheru said he has already missed the chance to train in France, which held an Olympics training camp for boxers who qualified for the Games.
Gacheru lost to Oteng Oteng in the final in Morocco. They had earlier met in the All African Games where the Botswana boxer beat him in the quarter-final. He ultimately won the gold medal. The two also met in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi where the Kenyan beat him in the semi-final.
Meanwhile, five boxers from Coast left Mombasa yesterday for Kisumu for the second leg of the national boxing league, writes Ernest Ndunda.
Coast Amateur Boxing Association Competition Secretary Samson Mtoni said the boxers produced sterling performances during the first leg held in Mombasa.
He said the team has been undergoing intensive training ready for the second leg, which runs from tomorrow to Saturday.
Mike Davies and Paul Mathenge will coach the team while William Okumu travelled as team leader.
Those in the team are Omar Miraj (bantam), Fredrick Ochieng’ (light weight), Daudi Adino (middle weight), Dennis Odhiambo (light heavy) and Ali Salim (welter weight).
Elsewhere, Coast boxing league cum selection championships is set for June 9 and 10 at Young Women Christian Association (YMCA) in Likoni.
Mtoni said the two-day event would be used to select boxers to represent the region in the inter-provincial tournament between Coast Combined and Kenya Police on June 16.
