•Francis Mutuku, secretary general of NOCK, stated during the ongoing three-day media training workshop in Naivasha that sponsorship plans for the team's trips to France and Cuba are well underway.
•Mutuku claimed that the reason they chose to sponsor the trip was due to Hit Squad's standout performance in recent international outings.
The national boxing team, Hit Squad, has been promised two high-profile international exhibition games by Kenya's National Olympic Committee.
Francis Mutuku, secretary general of NOCK, said sponsorship plans for the team's trips to France and Cuba are underway.
The two nations are boxing superpowers in the world and Mutuku believes Kenyan fighters can learn important lessons from such assignments.
Speaking during the ongoing media training workshop in Naivasha, Mutuku said: "We now understand that Algeria consistently performs well because they are sponsored to train abroad. Every time we take our athletics team to France for a training camp, we find the Algerian boxers working out."
"We aim to advance past the qualifying rounds ( at the 2024 Paris Olympics) and possibly place on the podium."
Mutuku said Hit Squad's recent performances have been encouraging and they want to capitalise on this by giving them the exposure needed to perform better in international tournaments.
Team Kenya chef de mission for the Birmingham 2020 Commonwealth Games, John Ogolla, added that Nock are also eager to train more boxing coaches and bring them up to par with contemporary technical and tactical standards.
"We will be sending more of our coaches to training programs since we are aware of the growing need to expose them to contemporary scoring methods," said Ogolla.
Their comments follow grave concerns expressed by local boxers and coaches, who claimed they lack knowledge on how the computerised scoring system operates.
Cabinet Secretary for Sports Ababu Namwamba said earlier in the year that the government would spare no effort in increasing the visibility of Kenyan boxers on the world stage this year.
The CS promised to turn around the fortunes of boxers in the country.
"I will make sure the president fulfills his promises to Kenyan athletes because I am his foot soldier. I pledge to stick by Kenyan boxers through good and bad times until they attain the desired heights," said Namwamba.
Hit Squad Benjamin Musa said they expect more governmental assistance this year if they are to live up to expectations.
"Lack of finances has seen the competitiveness of the local pugilists take a hit unlike the years gone by when Nobert Wangila pounded his way to win Olympic gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Games," Musa said.