•The men's team includes Nick Okoth, Victor Odhiambo, Joseph Shigali, Boniface Mugunde, Edwin Okong’o aka Ocox, Cosby Ouma, Hezron Maganga, Joshua Wasike, Shaffi Bakari, Martin Oduor, David Karanja and warhorse Elly Ajowi.
•The ladies team has Christine Ongare, Emily Juma, Stacy Ayoma, Elizabeth Akinyi and Olympian Andiego.
•Boxing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will feature eight weight classes for men and five for women.
Top boxers Elly Ajowi and Elizabeth Andiego are among 15 boxers who have made the final shortlist for the World Boxing Olympic qualifiers slated for June in Paris.
Boxing Federation of Kenya (BFK) communications director, Duncan ‘Sugar Ray’ Kuria while making the announcement, said the final team for the qualifier will be drawn from the latest list of 15 boxers.
New inclusions in the team are Martin Oduor of Police ‘Chafua Chafua’ and Nairobi’s David Karanja.
The two will team up with skipper Nick Okoth, Victor Odhiambo, Joseph Shigali, Boniface Mugunde, Edwin Okong’o aka Ocox, Cosby Ouma, Hezron Maganga, Joshua Wasike, Shaffi Bakari and warhorse Elly Ajowi.
Cosby is hoping to get a shot at the qualification event after failing to make the team for Dakar continental qualifiers last year, where he was replaced by pro-boxer Rayton Okwiri, who failed to qualify.
Now that Okwiri isn’t part of the current team, Cosby hopes to use the opportunity to prove his mettle. Bakari has since moved a berth up to flyweight after his traditional light flyweight division was scrapped from the Tokyo Olympics.
The ladies team has Christine Ongare, Emily Juma, Stacy Ayoma, Elizabeth Akinyi and Olympian Andiego. Andiego became the first Kenyan woman to grace the Olympics when she was handed a wildcard for London 2012.
Together with Benson Gicharu, they represented the country at the London summer games. Ongare, on the other hand, became the first Kenyan lady to win a medal when she clinched bronze at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Okoth and Ongare have already qualified for Tokyo Olympics but will still be eyeing places in the team as they seek to use the event as a build-up for Olympics.
Boxing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will feature eight weight classes for men and five for women. The extra two categories for women in Japan means female participation will triple for purposes of greater gender equality while maintaining boxing quality.
The Hit Squad has since savoured the services of fitness coach Geoffrey Kimani who was assigned by NOC-K to assist the team ahead of the Olympics .
Kuria explained: “Kimani found the situation a bit different because as a federation, we are focusing on having more boxers to qualify for Olympic through the qualifiers to be held in June in Paris. So technically, coach Kim had to work with the whole group in camp and his services are highly appreciated. We hope he will stick with the team longer ahead of is Tokyo games.”
“Kimani has introduced new things in our training such as speed, endurance and strength tests. Our boxers had never done such tests when training with national team or their respective clubs,” said Kuria.
Kuria added that Kimani has simplified the understanding of the muscles that boxers use while fighting.
"During training sessions, he is able to tell boxers which muscles he is targeting with the workout and why. He has introduced boxers to a totally new world and I guess that is good for progress,” Kuria added