Police constable benefits from South African withdrawal
Police constable Peter Mungai became the second Kenyan boxer to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games after South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee announced it did not recognise Sibusiso Bandla qualification in Cameroon.
The stylish Kenya Police light-flyweight qualifies in a similar way the Kenyan women’s Sevens Rugby team did, by replacing South Africa after they were refused the chance by the country’s Olympic committee.
Mungai - a Kenya team mainstay over the past decade- joins AIBA Pro Boxing (APB) compatriot and Prisons officer Rayton Okwiri in Kenya’s two man team to Brazil. Okwiri sailed through to Rio Games after clinching a gold medal at last month’s Final Qualification tournament in Yaounde.
So far Kenya has qualified two team sports (Rugby Sevens men and women) and women’s archery star Shehzana Anwar. The men’s Sevens Rugby team made it through to the Brazil games after eclipsing a hard fighting Zimbabwean side at the Africa Olympic qualifiers.
Boxing Association of Kenya (BAK) ExCo member David Munuhe confirmed Mungai being called upon by the International Olympic Committee to fill the void left behind by Bandla.
“We have received communication from the National Olympic Committee of Kenya on Mungai’s slot and we are all very excited,” said Munuhe who was one of the Kenya team trainers in Yaounde.
Mungai cruised through to the semifinals of the Final Africa Olympic Qualifiers after defeating Ghanaian Suleiman Tetteh but lost out in the third place playoffs.
Munuhe said six more boxers from Kenya have a chance of making it to the Rio plane if funds are availed to send a team to Baku for the World Qualification Tournament in June.
