Nairobi County boxers land invite to fight in Denmark

Nairobi County Boxing Association have been invited by Lindholm Boxing Club of Denmark to compete in the 22nd edition of Viking Cup that runs from January 5 to 7, 2018 at Aalborg City.

Former Kenya welterweight boxer, Kenneth “Valdez” Ochieng, who is the link between Nairobi and the tournament organisers, yesterday said that the county association was supposed to raise air fare and allowances for their pugilists and officials for the Denmark trip.

Ochieng said that their hosts will cater for internal expenses that included accommodation, meals and internal transport.

He said: “We got the invitation letter in July, but our attempt to reach the then Nairobi Governor for assistance was unfruitful.”

He added: “We are still hopeful that the current county government will come to our aid.”

Kenya and Denmark had a strong boxing relationship in the 1980s when the late Borg Anderson used to invite Kenyan teams to Denmark to take part in semi-professional contests. Ochieng is one of the beneficiaries of Andersen’s organised tours.

He said: “There is a shortage of light flyweight and flyweight boxers in Europe, therefore, a Nairobi squad should have boxers from bantamweight to heavyweight as we do not have super heavyweight boxers in our clubs.”

He added: “In Denmark, their tournament also includes women boxers. We should therefore have a few girls in our squad.

“We have been asked to take a contingent of 15.”

The Nairobi County Boxing Association secretary, Musa Benjamin, said that they will select their boxers on December 16 as they are supposed to confirm their participation in the Viking Cup by January 2.