•Musa said that flyweight Christine Ongare was right when she said that lack of sufficient exposure ate considerably into their performance.
•Musa said travelling widely is what made Hit Squad perform exceptionally well in the past.
Image: FILE
Hit Squad head coach Benjamin Musa says they are now training their sights on the World Boxing Championships slated for October and November in Serbia after their medal hunt at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics yielded little fruits.
Speaking on Wednesday, Musa said they would soon activate their provisional squad to camp to sharpen claws for the tournament.
"Given we don't have any forthcoming tournaments that we can use to select a team, the only option will be to make use of the strong team of 20 boxers who had already been identified earlier," said Musa.
The tactician lashed out at local boxing fans for trolling members of the Hit Squad following their disappointing outcome at the Olympics, adding that he still held firmly to his earlier position that Nick Okoth deserved to have won his bout.
"I'm surprised that there are those saying Nick Okoth should have just conceded defeat honourably because he lost in broad daylight. Definitely, those are people who don't know what they are talking about."
Musa also trashed claims suggesting Okoth was more physical in the bout as opposed to his opponent who employed more tact. "It's ridiculous to even make such statements. How do you even think of winning a bout without being aggressive?
"If you followed closely how Okoth approached the bout, you'll realise he lost in the first round because he punched softly.
"He changed tact in the second round where he won unanimously after becoming more aggressive. "At the end of the day, it's all about winning and there is no way anyone can win a boxing bout by approaching an opponent with kids glove," said Musa.
The tactician said featherweight Christine Ongare was right when she said lack of sufficient exposure considerably affected their performance.
After her bout, Ongare said she had difficulties tackling her opponent because she was not used to her boxing style mostly associated with Asian pugilists.
"Different countries have different boxing cultures. We cannot achieve much without competing a lot with pugilists from various nations. Our opponents had participated in more tournaments and got to meet different boxing cultures, while the best we did was to participate in the All Africa Games and Africa Olympic Qualifiers," said Musa.
"Our opponents had at least twenty bouts after qualifying for the games whereas we only had two or three," he added. Musa said travelling widely is what made Hit Squad perform exceptionally well in the past.
"They made quite a number of trips abroad. There are times when the team would be split into two contingents with one travelling to Germany and the other to USA for preparations.
Meanwhile, Musa has said Boxing Federation of Kenya already have comprehensive plans in place to establish a winning culture.
"We plan to build youth structures at the grassroots and the first step will be to approach the Kenya Secondary SchoolS Sports Association (KSSSA) to help us roll out the program. We intend to deploy coaches in schools and equip grass root clubs. We also intend to train technical people including coaches," said Musa.