SGR TRAIN RIDE TO MOMBASA FOR NAIROBI JUNIOR BOXERS, SAYS MUSA BENJAMIN
An exciting SGR train ride to Mombasa awaits winners of the Nairobi Junior Championships boxing tournament which ended yesterday, April 26, at the Pal Pal Gym, Pumwani.
Kenya’s national boxing team head coach Musa Benjamin, who is also the Secretary-General of Nairobi County Boxing Association, said plans are in the pipeline for all the winners in the Nairobi Junior Championships to travel to Mombasa for a friendly match against their Coastal counterparts towards the end of the year.
“We used to do it in the past to motivate the juniors and have them enjoy themselves at the Mombasa beaches,” Musa told boxersworld.co.ke at the Pal Pal Gym.
“Our former international Benson Gicharu is one of the beneficiaries of the Mombasa trip. They will also meet the Mombasa junior boxers in a friendly match.”
With lack of regular junior boxing tournaments not only in Kenya but in Africa, Musa said they have no choice but to create their own contests to gauge their juniors.
“If funds are available we can also extend our friendlies with neighbouring countries such as Tanzania and Uganda,” said Musa.
The Kenyan juniors such as Kallah Said aka Gaddafi of Mathare North, Alvin Otieno of Kibra Olympic and Dian Omuyuzu of Mukuru Fight-4-Life Club displayed immense potential in the Nairobi tournament but as usual after such an event there’s no follow-up to organise more tournaments for them. They go back to school until the next holidays is when they participate in another junior event which does not move them forward. It has become a ritual.
Such tournaments are meant to monitor the impressive juniors with an aim of grooming them to graduate to the youth category and eventually to the national team.
Financial constraints is one big hurdle facing the growth of junior boxing in Africa, resulting in lack of inter-country tournaments and an annual African event. This problem extends up to the senior level.
Eventually, some of these promising junior boxers abandon boxing to join other disciplines while others through the guidance of their financially able parents decide to concentrate on their studies.
They do so upon realising there are no proper structures for their growth as well as a tangible plan to assure them of a steady future and regular income by associating themselves with boxing.
Africa Boxing Confederation (AFBC) President Eyassu Berhanu had promised to introduce Junior Africa Boxing Championships but almost two years since his election, he has not implemented his pledge.
Like his predecessors, he has turned out to be another big-thinking day dreamer.
