Africa-Press – Kenya. The Boxing Federation of Kenya (BFK) secretary general, Dave Munuhe has expressed hope that Hit Squad might attend the Africa Boxing Championships in Cameroon.
Munuhe said they have received news from the continental boxing governing body informing them that the championships had been postponed to August. The tournament had initially been scheduled to run between June 20-25.
Hit Squad’s plans to grace the show were thrown into disarray after the federation failed to secure government funding in good time. “The information we have just received is that the tournament will now be held in August. This means we have more time to move around and raise money for the trip,” Munuhe said.
“We all want to be part of the competition and we shall do all it takes to send our boxers to Cameroon in August,” Munuhe said.
Munuhe, who doubles up as the Hit Squad assistant coach further said they had intensified efforts to identify personnel for the 2024 Paris Olympics. “We want to ensure we have a significant number of boxers in next year’s Olympic games.”
His remarks come even as the local governing body weighed in on the ongoing wrangles between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Association (IBA). The IOC recently said it would not acknowledge any tournament hosted by IBA to pick boxers for Olympic Games beginning with the Paris 2024.
The IOC terminated the IBA’s authority to oversee and plan the Olympic qualifiers in June 2022, citing irregularities in the organization’s handling of money, governance, ethics, officiating, and judging.
The executive board of the IOC suggested excluding IBA from Olympic structures. As a result, the board created and approved a new qualification scheme for Paris 2024 that would allow boxers to earn quota seats through continental multi-sport competitions, thereby streamlining the procedure.
Since 1904, boxing has been an integral part of the Games but the public spat between the two bodies now threatens to look it out. “In this scenario, it’s only prudent that we go by IOC’s declarations because it is the federation directly concerned with allocating the relevant slots,” Munuhe said.
According to the BFK boss, the IOC has already set up Africa qualifiers in Senegal commencing in September. Munuhe said all African federations will grace the Dakar showpiece as a clear indication of the qualification’s relevance to the Olympics.
“The IOC and IBA can go ahead and flex their muscles, but the winner is obvious. So far, everything is alright because the IBA has not advised us not to attend the qualifications,” Munuhe continued.
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