•A star-studded provisional squad of 24 pugilists is limbering up for the upcoming Africa Boxing Championships that will be held in Cameroon in August.
Cameroon •tournament is part of the pathways to the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Image: FILE
The Boxing Federation of Kenya (BFK) have introduced a performance-based strategy to get more members of the Hit Squad into the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Hit Squad head coach Benjamin Musa said they are doing everything in their power to have more Kenyan boxers on board for the prestigious quadrennial international extravaganza.
"Besides honing the technical skills of our boxers, we have also included other vital aspects of conditioning and diet into our training regimen," Musa said.
"We've brought in experts to provide us with the extras we need in making our boxers more competitive on the international stage. We have a dietitian, a fitness trainer, and a psychologist to tackle mental issues," Musa remarked.
The gaffer hailed the National Olympic Committee of Kenya for extending technical assistance by providing a strength and conditioning coach for the team under the Elite Athlete Performance Commission.
"We acknowledge Nock's immense contribution as we prepare for the Olympic qualifiers. They have already deployed strength and conditioning coach Geoffrey Kimani who sits in the Elite Athlete Performance Commission to take us through guidelines for physical activity," Musa noted.
Kimani will guide the Kenyan pugilists through fitness sessions at the VMX Fitness Centre at the Village Market in Nairobi.
"The team has benefitted immensely from access to state-of-the-art facilities under a partnership between BFK and VMX Gym- Village market," Musa said. "We settled on this particular gym because it has everything that can help us reach the desired levels of fitness," he added.
Musa made the observations even as his charges entered their third week of training in preparation for the Africa Boxing Championships slated for July 26 in Yaounde, Cameroon.
A star-studded provisional squad of 24 pugilists is limbering up for the upcoming Africa Boxing Championships that will be held in Cameroon in August.
The tournament is part of the pathways to the Paris 2024 Olympics. The boxers were selected after a fiercely contested three-day trial that concluded at Nairobi's Charter Hall late last month.
Musa revealed that the same team will fly the country's flag at the forthcoming Africa Boxing Championships. He expressed confidence in the prospects of his charges to excel on the international stage.
"I'm confident we picked the right personnel with the capacity to make the country proud," Musa stated.
"We are conducting our training sessions both at the Mathare Depot and the VMX Fitness Centre at the Village Market in Nairobi," Musa added.