Kenya Police ‘Chafua Chafua’ will be seeking to retain the Sportpesa national boxing league title this weekend in Nakuru minus Olympian Peter Mungai.
Police coach George ‘Forman’ Onyango said Mungai, who did duty for Kenya in the Rio Olympics, is unavailable due to personal commitments.
Onyango, a former Commonwealth Games gold medalist, said they have preferred fast-rising Shafie Bakari to fill the void left behind in the light flyweight division by Mungai.
“Shafie was very impressive on the penultimate leg of the league in Machakos and we believe he has what’s it takes to win the division this time round,” said Onyango.
Police, who qualified a full team of 10 boxers in the Machakos finals, enjoy a 9-point lead over KDF but have refused to rest on their laurels ahead of the decisive leg.
“The game plan is to take our opponents as they come. We can’t afford to let this slip from our hands this time. One thing I know for sure is that the solders will come hard on us and so it promises to be a great outing,” said Onyango.
Onyango said they will maintain their impressive Police team in Machakos for the Nakuru leg.
Meanwhile, third-placed and 1999 champions Kenya Prisons have unveiled their final team of 8 boxers ahead of the season finale which starts at Nakuru Gardens (near the governor’s office) from Thursday through to Saturday.
Coach Maurice Maina ‘Kawata’ said they will not field boxers in the super and light flyweight divisions. The super heavyweight division fell vacant when long-standing Kenya international Daniel Shisia retired. Prisons, who have not been very impressive over the past three years, are rebuilding a team for the 2017 boxing season.
Harrison Mathuku at flyweight and Olympian Aziz Ali at heavyweight are the most experienced boxers in the warders outfit. The rest are young and upcoming boxers coach Maina has tested this season. KDF will field the likes of Simon Mulinge at flyweight, super heavyweight Fred Ramogi and light heavyweight Hezron Maganga.
Police Team: Shafie Bakari (Light fly 49kgs), Morris Ochieng (fly: 52kg), Martin Oduor (bantam 56kg), Ethan Maina (Light 60kg), Joseph Shigali (Light welter 64kg), Boniface Mugunde (welter 69kg), Silas Masake (middle 75kg), Elly Ajowi (Light-heavy 81kg), Tobias Okeyo (Heavy 91kg) and Kimathi Kinoti (super heavy 91kg+).
