Kenyan coach trains Tanzania team
Kenya Defence Forces' Isaac Meja (in red) evades Kevin Akoko from Kisumu in their bantamweight bout during the fifth Leg of the SportPesa National Boxing League at Uwanja wa Mbuzi Stadium in Mombasa on November 9, 2017. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT |
What you need to know:
- The team entered residential training camp on March 3.
Kenyan-born boxing coach, Musa Benjamin, has been contracted to train Tanzania’s national boxing team that will compete at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Queensland, Australia from April 4-15.
Benjamin, who is also the secretary of Nairobi County Boxing Association and the coach of Undugu Boxing Club, is in Dar es Salaam on a short contract with Boxing Federation of Tanzania (BFT) to prepare the country’s boxers for the Games. The team entered residential training camp on March 3.
Benjamin said: “I got a short contract with BFT for the Games with a possibility of getting a long-term engagement after Gold Coast.”
He added: “I have had a long working relationship with Tanzania boxing officials, who invited our boxers to compete in their domestic tournaments such us Inter-cities and Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Memorial tournaments. Some of the boxers who toured Tanzania with me at one time or the other include Nick Okoth, Nick Abaka, Nick Otieno, Sande Otieno, Isaac Meja, Ethan Maina and Lorna Kusa.”
Benjamin said that he would forever remain grateful to TBF who recommended him to the International Boxing Association (AIBA) through their secretary, Makore Machaga, to take a Three-Star Coaching Certificate Course in 2015 at Kazakhstan.
As for the Commonwealth Games, Benjamin said that he has eight boxers in the camp, all male, but Tanzania will be represented by four pugilists in Australia in bantamweight, welterweight, middleweight and heavyweight categories. Kenya’s team of 11 boxers will represent the country in Australia, four of them female.
