Kenyan boxers looking forward to a fruitful year

Christine Ongare (red) of Team Kenya competes against Priyanka Dhillon (blue) of Team Canada during the Women's Boxing Over 45kg-48kg Minimum-weight Quarter-Final on day six of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games at NEC Arena on August 03, 2022 in Birmingham, England. (Kelly Ayodi, Standard)

After a mixed performance in 2022, Kenyan boxers hope to learn from their past dismal performance to improve ratings in international boxing championships this year.

As Kenya hopes to take part in upcoming nine global events, both the players and boxing officials are determined to perform better.

Kenya should actualise her seriousness to win and make her presence felt in their dream to regain their lost glory and take her rightful place in the global boxing map.

Kenya is set to begin their season with the Africa Zone Three Boxing Championships on March 16-22 at a venue to be announced later by Africa Zone Three Executive Committee after finishing runners up behind Democratic Republic of Congo last year.

This will be followed with their participation in the the ANOCA Africa Youth Championships at a yet to be confirmed venue the same month.

IBA World Women Boxing Championships set for New Delhi, India also in March will see Kenya field her female squad after the International Boxing Association (IBA) communicates the dates of the event.

Another event that Kenya cannot afford to miss is the World Boxing Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan slated for May 1-14.

Kenya will equally compete in the Africa Cup of Nations Boxing Championships to be hosted in July at a venue to be announced later by Confederation of Africa Boxing (CAB).

And according to national boxing head coach Musa Benjamin, the continental showpiece will help them gauge their players ahead of the major events.

"This is a tournament that will assist us to gauge the potentiality of each of our boxers before we decide who fits in which global championships like the Olympics, World Boxing Championships or Commonwealth Games," Benjamin told Standard Sports.

Slovenia will then host the Golden Belt Series in July before the 13th edition of All Africa Games cum Olympic Qualifiers in Accra, Ghana in August.

Kenya will take part in International Boxing Day in Nairobi on August 26-27 that will open doors for the start of the National Boxing League on September 14-16 in Vihiga County.

The second leg follows in Machakos on October 12-14 ahead of the third leg in Nakuru from November 2-4.

The fourth leg will be held in Nanyuki on November 23-25 with the final round of the league scheduled for December 7-8 in Kisumu.

The Youth and Junior Championships will open the local calendar in Nairobi on January 5-7 followed by the National Novice Championships in the same city on February 2-4 and National Intermediate Championships in Kajiado from March 2-4.

Kenya Open Championships will follow in Nairobi on April 6-8.

The last two international championships are Africa Youth Championships and Africa Zonal Championships in September and December respectively.