This archive report was first published on 30 July 2019.
The All Africa Games in Morocco are just around the corner, but the Boxing Federation of Kenya is facing a daunting task in selecting its team. According to the organisers, only Olympic weights will be featured in the event, leaving the federation with a selection headache.
As a result, the federation will have to scale down the number of male boxers from 10 to 8, while the number of female boxers remains unchanged at 5.
Communications Officer Duncan Kuria explained the situation: “Lightweight will be merged with light welter and then there is introduction of feather weight which was not in our training programme in the Mombasa league tournament. For the ladies we only have five Olympic weights so they won’t be affected.”
The federation was caught off guard by the decision, but Kuria acknowledged that they have no choice but to comply with the organisers' standards. “We were surprised as a federation but we have no option as we must send a squad that meets the organisers standards hence the officials will have to do extra work in selecting boxers that meet the required standards,” he added.
Among the excluded weights are bantamweight, light flyweight, and lightweight for men.
The final team to the Morocco duty is expected to be released by tomorrow evening.
