Participation in World Cup boon for Kenyan boxers

Kenya's Boniface Mogunde (left) in a past bout against Zine El Abidine of Morocco. [File, Standard]

The participation of ‘Hit Squad’ at the second World Cup in China next week is a boost for Kenyan boxers whose ambitions are on their qualification for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The event is meant to shape boxers in several international assignments across the globe as they get ready for their respective Continental Olympic Qualifiers starting early next year.

Kenya will take part in Africa Olympic Qualifiers (AOQ). The Olympic Qualifiers are under the auspices of WB, which obtained temporary supervisory rights from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after they (IOC) differed with the International Boxing Association (IBA) on a number of management issues.

It follows the first World Cup hosted in Brazil last month. Kenya is expected to send a squad to China for the global championships this weekend, ahead of the weeklong competition that kicks off on Monday.

The technical bench is still unable to name the squad since the government has not communicated with the national federation on the number of slots for the travelling party. Despite all that, head coach Musa Benjamin said morale is high in the camp, though no player is sure of who’ll make the final team.

“Morale is good here despite our inability to know who’ll make the trip. They’ll be dictated by the financial budget to be awarded to us by the government, which is financing the trip,” said Benjamin.

A provisional team of 20 boxers has been training at Mathare Police Depot in Nairobi.