The local pugilism governing body, Boxing Federation of Kenya, has postponed the inaugural Junior Championships to April 2022.
The federation is keen to make good the promise to roll out the maiden novice tournament for juveniles in a well-calculated move aimed at casting the net wide to rope in untapped talent.
In a communique published on its social media platforms on Friday, BFK regretted the decision to procrastinate the event which had earlier been scheduled for late November.
BFK said it would be difficult under the existing circumstances to unveil the event, given the congested school calendar.
“With the revised school calendar, it will be impossible to guarantee maximum participation of schoolboys and girls, juniors and youths in their Championship that was scheduled for November 30 to December 4,” said BFK.
“After an in-depth consultation, BFK has, therefore, postponed the junior event to April 2022. The date and venue will be communicated later. Note that Birth certificates will be used to verify participants' age. Coaches are, therefore requested to prepare the documents accordingly. Apologies for any inconvenience caused following the changes,” said the federation.
During a past interview with the Star, national team assistant coach Dave Munuhe gave the strongest hint yet that plans were, indeed, underway to roll out the program before the end of the year. This, he said was meant to ensure continuity.
“We have also been engaging schools across the country to work on the most appropriate ways we can employ to introduce programs at that level. Hopefully, we shall be rolling the program anytime soon,” concluded Munuhe.
While echoing Munuhe's sentiments, BFK communications director, Duncan Kuria, said they had invested heavily to aid in launching an abrasive onslaught to reclaim Kenya’s erstwhile glory on the international battlefront.
“We have taken quite a different approach from the past and introduced some key measures in molding our boxers,” said Kuria.
Kuria extolled budding boxers who battled at the just concluded President Jamal Cup for exhibiting great character in the face of stiff opposition posed by the more seasoned members of the Hit Squad.
“The boxers who were training at the grassroots did quite well. They came and proved their mettle on the national stage and gave the more established boxers good competition,” said Kuria.
Kuria reiterated the urgent need to resuscitate the sport that once basked in the glory of the international limelight, especially in 1988 when the country bagged a gold medal through the late modest Napunyi Wangila at the Seoul Olympics.
“We are the only the sport that has won medals at the Olympics other than athletics. Unfortunately, at some point, the level of boxing went down and we are trying to bring it up through Dondi Mashinani program, but it is going to take some time,” said Kuria.
Kuria said the blossoming number of boxers in the country is a clear testimony of the growing interest.
“We are impressed by the number of boxers who have emerged from the counties," said Kuria.
