Kenyans boxers out to revive lost glory
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Kenyan boxers have intensified their build-up campaign ahead of the Commonwealth Games planned for October in New Delhi, India.
The Kenya team has been undergoing build-up matches in the past few months in a bid to revive their past old good days when they were a force to reckon with both in Africa and global stage.
Kenya's graph on the world boxing scene has dipped since the 1988 Olympics when Robert Wangila won the continent's first gold medal.
The team has already done two tours in preparation for the Commonwealth Games.
The team took part in the World Championship in Milan, Italy late last year and was in New Delhi, India for the Commonwealth early this year, although they did not win any medals on both occasions.
The team popularly known as 'Hit Squad' is now planning another build-up tour in Arusha, Tanzania later this month as part of their Commonwealth preparations.
The Kenyans are scheduled to leave on July 18 for the event planned to take place from July 20-25.
The final Kenyan team for the tour was named on Wednesday and All Africa Games middleweight bronze medallist Daniel Shisia was the notable exclusion from the team.
The team has been training in Nairobi for the past one month. The national team deputy coach Steve Gacheru said he was happy with the constant exposure and build-up of the team.
"Even though we fared badly at the World Championship in Milan last year and the Commonwealth build-up in New Delhi earlier in the year, I am happy we gained a lot of experience and exposure," said Gacheru, who sounded optimistic of the team' s physical conditioning and scoring.
"We have been improving since and I think by the time we go for the Commonwealth Games, things will be much better. Standards have been set and only the sky is the limit. We are coming out of a competitive league and going to Tanzania will be another good exposure."
But while Shisia was shown the door, Michael Okwisia of AFABA recaptured his position at super-heavyweight, replacing Peter Opudi of Police. ( Okwisia has not played competitively at national team level since leaving Kenya League champions Kenya Police some three years back.
Shisia, on the other hand, met his waterloo as Joshua Ndere of AFABA was preferred at the light-heavyweight division.
Shisia who has since moved a berth up from middle to super-heavy has found Ndere a hard nut to crack. Ndere missed to make the Beijing Olympics team as he was out of the country on official assignment.
Incidentally, Aziz Ali (now a heavyweight) of Prisons was Kenya' s flag bearer in Beijing at the light-heavyweight division when he was offered Ndere' s place at the Namibia qualification tournament to earn an Olympic slot, much to surprise of many.
Also dropped in the welterweight class is former Federation of East and Central Africa Amateur Boxing Association (FESCAABA) Champion Nick Abaka who has indeed found the going rough since being axed from the Beijing Olympics team with a jaw dislocation. Gacheru, who was Beijing Olympics coach, is this time round assisting head coach Patrick 'Mont' Waweru.
"We have taken the team through some computer scoring drill and found their act quite satisfactory. All boxers have impressed and it will be an understatement to pinpoint one particular boxer at this point in time," said Gacheru.
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