Kenyan boxers to miss Youth Olympics

Kenya’s hopes of participating in the Youth Olympic Games  in China this August were shattered when  light fly-weight, Abednego Kyalo, suffered a second round technical knockout in the ongoing AIBA Youth World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Kyalo was stopped by Subaru Murata of Japan with just 17 seconds remaining at the weekend. He was Kenya’s only hope. Kyalo had won his opening game of the preliminary round on April 14 when he beat Tashi Wangdi of Bhutan on points, 2:1.

Fly weight Leornard Shingiri was disqualified in the second minute of the third round in his bout against Sandor Tar of Hungary. Light weight Simon Kinuthia was given the same dose by Lasha Guruli of Geogia, who had him disqualified in 1:31 minutes of the third round.

Bantam-weight Said Baguani was given a technical knockout by Carlos Balderas of USA in 2:05 minutes of the third round.

“This was a very poor performance. The Boxing Association of Kenya officials have been doing things secretly without involving other coaches,” said former welter-weight champion, Kenneth ‘Valdez’ Ochieng’.

The ongoing wrangles in boxing between BAK and Nairobi County Boxing Association may end up in killing the game in the country bearing in mind that the number of boxers in the county is more than those from all the other BAK affiliates combined.

For many years Nairobi boxing clubs have been acting as a nursery for institution associations like Kenya Defence Forces, Kenya Police, and Kenya Prisons.

Therefore, by BAK ignoring boxers from clubs affiliated to Nairobi County when doing their team selection may take the sport from grace to grass.