•The seasoned gaffer is leading a stellar contingent of local pugilists at the ongoing IBA World Boxing Championships that opened its doors at the Uhoma Arena in Uzbekistan over the weekend.
•Musa's remarks came hot on the heels of two landmark victories registered by the Kenyan contingent in the preliminary stages of the premier global showpiece.
Image: HANDOUT
Hit Squad head coach, Benjamin Musa, has exuded confidence in his team's capacity to exorcise the spooky medal drought that has hounded Kenya in the World Boxing Championships arena for years now.
The seasoned gaffer is leading a stellar contingent of local pugilists at the ongoing IBA World Boxing Championships that opened its doors at the Uhoma Arena in Uzbekistan over the weekend.
The national boxing team has struggled to put up a convincing performance on the big stage in recent years but the trend seems likely to change if their show in the South Asian nation is anything to go by.
Musa said he is confident the remaining boxers would live up to expectations and replicate the exemplary form exhibited by two of their compatriots who ripped their opponents apart to secure historic wins.
"We have done well thus far save for a few errors that made us lose some bouts on split points. Every bout offers a new experience and poses a new challenge and we are ready to take everything in our strides.
"We are taking each fight at a time. We are not so much worried about what will happen in the future. Our focus is on the task at hand."
The seasoned gaffer said they had meticulously rummaged through their archives to fish out information that could hand them the necessary edge over their opponents.
"We are keenly studying the strengths and weaknesses of our opponents in the videos that we have managed to get. We are using a different approach for every match because our opponents come in varying packages."
Musa's remarks came hot on the heels of two landmark victories registered by the Kenyan contingent in the preliminary stages of the premier global showpiece.
Hit Squad captain Boniface Mugunde hammered away indefatigably to earn the country its second win in the tournament.
Mugunde staged a boxing masterclass to edge out Bahamas' Leviticus Hield Carl and storm the next round. "I'd like to thank God for Wednesday's victory. My opponent was so aggressive and was intent on knocking me out," Mugunde said.
The National Police Service officer who plies trade for the Chafua Chagua boxing team on the local front extolled his coaches for propelling him to victory.
"I thank the coaches who constantly shouted instructions to me from the ringside and gave me the energy to fight on. They advised me to keep moving in the ring and that worked for me because my opponent hardly had any definite target," Mugunde said.
"I'm confident of a good performance in my next bout against a Ugandan opponent.
"Mugunde's win was the second for Kenya in the ongoing championships after compatriot Hezron Maganga (cruiserweight) put up a valiant fight to tuck away a historic win at the Humo Arena in Tashkent Uzbekistan on Tuesday.
Maganga punched furiously to demolish French Polynesia's Tetoofa Henere in an engrossing action-packed Round thriller.