{"id":31811,"date":"2021-07-19T17:08:30","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T17:08:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/?p=31811"},"modified":"2021-07-19T14:59:41","modified_gmt":"2021-07-19T14:59:41","slug":"commander-vows-to-destroy-opponents-as-hit-squad-jet-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/commander-vows-to-destroy-opponents-as-hit-squad-jet-out","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Commander\u2019 vows to destroy opponents as Hit Squad jet out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Kenya<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Hit Squad captain Nick Okoth is shuffling his feet in anxiety, awaiting his turn to bask in unprecedented Olympic Games glory.<\/p>\n

The Kenya Defence Forces officer \u2014 popularly known by his snappy moniker \u2018Commander\u2019 \u2014 has vowed to unleash the beast in him at the Tokyo Games as he clears his path for a historic medal.<\/p>\n

Okoth left a succinct message as he and teammates departed for the Games on Sunday evening, saying: \u201cKenyans, I promise to fly the country’s flag high in Tokyo. Expect to see me on the medal podium.”<\/p>\n

The 38-year-old featherweight pugilist reiterated he wouldn’t let the country down, having already received heart-melting messages of love and encouragement on his social media platform ahead of his first bout.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m overwhelmed by the positive comments I constantly receive on my Facebook page.\u201d<\/p>\n

Standing at 5’6 and weighing 57kgs, Okoth believes he has a glorious opportunity to cap off his glittering career with an Olympic medal, which has eluded him in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve trained patiently for the last 12 years waiting for this moment to come and it is finally here. The last time I participated in the Olympics was during the Beijing Games in 2008,” said Okoth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn’t achieve much at that time given I was still naive and made juvenile errors in the ring. As much as I rue missing out on a gold medal then, I wouldn’t regret much because I gathered some vital lessons that will enable me perform better this time around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Okoth says he is not quacking in the boots over his opponents given he knows them too well, like the back of his hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is neither All Africa Games nor Commonwealth Games. We are talking about the Olympics. That notwithstanding, the nature of the event isn’t causing me sleepless nights. I’m not afraid of the people I’ll be battling in Tokyo because I’ve met them before in other events,\u201d said Okoth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have prepared adequately for the task ahead and I feel so confident and ready to take on my opponents. One thing about preparing well is it makes me feel confident.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish to appreciate the good work our sparring partners did. Without them, we wouldn’t have achieved our current form.\u201d<\/p>\n

He carries with him a wealth of experience to the Games having represented Kenya and won a bronze at the 2020 Commonwealth Games in Delhi and a bronze at the 2015 African Games.<\/p>\n

Okoth also bagged a gold medal at the African Championships in Brazzaville and bronze at the 2015 African Military Championships in Tunis.<\/p>\n

He’ll be looking to improve his fortunes after being bundled out early in the preliminaries at the 2008 Beijing Games, where he crashed out to Arturo Santos Reyes.<\/p>\n

Okoth cut his teeth at Undugu Boxing Club while growing up in Nairobi\u2019s Mathare slums.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Kenya. Hit Squad captain Nick Okoth is shuffling his feet in anxiety, awaiting his turn to bask in unprecedented Olympic Games glory. The Kenya Defence Forces officer \u2014 popularly known by his snappy moniker \u2018Commander\u2019 \u2014 has vowed to unleash the beast in him at the Tokyo Games as he clears his path […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":31810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17,16],"tags":[6857,7003,544],"class_list":["post-31811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-kenya","tag-kenya"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Commander\u2019 vows to destroy opponents as Hit Squad jet out - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hit Squad captain Nick Okoth is shuffling his feet in anxiety, awaiting his turn to bask in unprecedented Olympic Games ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/commander-vows-to-destroy-opponents-as-hit-squad-jet-out\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Commander\u2019 vows to destroy opponents as Hit Squad jet out\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hit Squad captain Nick Okoth is shuffling his feet in anxiety, awaiting his turn to bask in unprecedented Olympic Games ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/commander-vows-to-destroy-opponents-as-hit-squad-jet-out\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-19T17:08:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2021\/07\/img-60f5934736e71.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"733\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/commander-vows-to-destroy-opponents-as-hit-squad-jet-out#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/commander-vows-to-destroy-opponents-as-hit-squad-jet-out\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018Commander\u2019 vows to destroy opponents as Hit Squad jet out\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-19T17:08:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/commander-vows-to-destroy-opponents-as-hit-squad-jet-out\"},\"wordCount\":489,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/commander-vows-to-destroy-opponents-as-hit-squad-jet-out#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2021\/07\/img-60f5934736e71.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Kenya\",\"Kenya\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"sport\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/commander-vows-to-destroy-opponents-as-hit-squad-jet-out#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/commander-vows-to-destroy-opponents-as-hit-squad-jet-out\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/commander-vows-to-destroy-opponents-as-hit-squad-jet-out\",\"name\":\"\u2018Commander\u2019 vows to destroy opponents as Hit Squad jet out - 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