Nairobi threaten to boycott Kenya Open at the Coast
What you need to know:
- Nairobi's superheavyweight Wellington Busili of Kibera Boxing Club joined the team without throwing a single punch during the Nairobi Open Championship at the Jericho Social Hall last weekend.
- He was the only pugilist in his category who turned up for the Nairobi Open.
The newly crowned Nairobi County boxing champions are fit and raring to go for the three-day Kenya Open Championships that were to be hosted in the coastal city of Mombasa but whose venue is now being contested.
The Boxing Association of Kenya (BAK) president, John Kameta, had earlier on announced that Mombasa would host the national championships from April 24-27 but the Nairobi County Boxing Association secretary Musa Benjamin Saturday disagreed.
He said: “The 2019 boxing calendar was drawn up in January after a meeting at the Ministry of Sports boardroom attended by the former Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Rashid Echesa and representatives of the two camps, one led by Jamal Otieno and the other by Kennedy Otieno, who are both vying for BAK presidency.”
He added: “A committee of 12 people comprising six members from each camp was formed. The committee was supposed to agree on the road map to elections and boxing tournaments. Nairobi County boxers will not go to Mombasa. If that is the sacrifice we will make for boxing to be run in a more professional manner, then be it,” said Benjamin.
The county has a full squad of 10 boxers. Their superheavyweight Wellington Busili of Kibera Boxing Club joined the team without throwing a single punch during the Nairobi Open Championship at the Jericho Social Hall last weekend.
He was the only pugilist in his category who turned up for the Nairobi Open.
