NENEZ BOXING ARCHIVE: ABA ignores judges decision in 1999 as national team wins six silvers and four bronze medals in Cairo
Boos and catcalls greeted Peter Kariuki’s
controversial victory over George Maina in the light-middleweight class during the 1999 Kenya Open Championships finals at Nyayo Stadium.
Prisons’ George Maina definitely had an edge over NCC’s Peter Kariuki in the Kenya Open which was also being used to select the national team to defend their Zone Five Championship in Cairo.
Headed by John Roberts at the time, the ABA of Kenya opted for Maina instead of the winner Kariuki to make it known to the judges who was the better boxer in the finals. They also took into account Maina’s consistency. The same was done in the light-flyweight and super-heavyweight divisions with Kenya Open finals light-flyweight loser John Kangau preferred to the winner Joseph Mwangi with AFABA’s Philip Ouma also earning the nod of ABA instead of Railways’ Fredrick Obala who defeated Ouma in the Kenya Open finals.
Twelve boxers were selected for the Cairo trip with Zone Five defending middleweight champion Peter “Dynamite” Odhiambo, the only surviving member of the 80s Golden Era, travelling to Cairo as a light-heavyweight.
Odhiambo took part in the heavyweight berth for the first time in the Kenya Open defeating Prisons’ Samuel Opiyo but the ABA decided Odhiambo drops down to light-heavyweight and Opiyo’s twin brother, George Odindo, moves up to heavyweight berth. Odindo won the light-heavyweight crown in the Kenya Open beating Nairobi’s Moses Odhiambo in the finals.
“I wasn’t comfortable in heavy.My height and weight had a disadvantage compared to natural heavyweights,” said Odhiambo.
Flyweight Duncan Kuria aka Sugar Ray maintained his domination in the flyweight division by soundly outpointing Nakuru’s Joseph Onyango to book the Cairo ticket. Kuria is currently the Communication Director of the Boxing Federation of Kenya (BFK).
The 1998 Commonwealth Games welterweight silver medallist Absalom “Diblo” Okinyi captained the 12-man Cairo team.
Others in the team were bantamweight Nick ‘Kanyankole” Otieno, featherweight John Mwangi, lightweight Mathias Dome, light-welterweight Fred Munga, middleweight Peter “Magic” Wanyoike and super-heavyweight Philip Ouma.
Travelling as head coach was Charles Anjimbi assisted by German-trained George Gichuki and Charles Longisa who doubled as referee/judge.
The Kenyans put up a remarkable show with six boxers winning silver medals and four bringing home bronze medals.
Welterweight Absalom Okinyi, flyweight Duncan Kuria, light-welterweight Fred Munga, middleweight Peter Wanyoike, light-heavyweight Peter Odhiambo and heavyweight George Odindo won the six silvers. The four bronze medals coming from bantamweight Nick Otieno, featherweight John Mwangi, light-middleweight George Maina and super-heayweight Philip Ouma. The 10 medalists qualified for the African Games in South Africa.
On return home, Anjimbi said Kenya would have won over three gold medals but biased officiating was their undoing.
The same sentiments were echoed by Duncan Kuria.
“Officiating was biased especially when fighting against North Africans. You had to knock them out to win otherwise it was almost impossible to win on points against them,” said Kuria.
Captain Okinyi cited non-payment of allowances as their lowest moment in the Cairo trip.
“What demoralized the team was lack of allowances, we were so disappointed going back home the same way we arrived,” said a bitter Okinyi.
Tempers flared with some boxers refusing to hand back the tracksuits until they were paid their allowance.
