Nakuru and KDF boxers shine in Kenya Open Championships

Boxers from league champions Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and Nakuru County made a good start on the first and second days of the Kenya Open Championships at Charter Hall, Nairobi, on Thursday.

It was evident, former powerhouse Nakuru County are steadily making a formidable comeback in national boxing after their boxers came out victorious in their first preliminary matches.

Minimumweight boxers Victor Komen and Isaac Karanja won their matches.

Komen dismissed Lewis Ndung’u of Kajiado 2-1 as Karanja walloped teammate Anthony Kariuki on a referee stop contest (RSC) rule in the second round.

“It was not a tough match but I’m happy to have come out victorious after training hard for a year. I’m looking forward to win the next match in the semis tonight,” Karanja told Standard Sports.

Karanja said the match was a test of discipline, focus and preparation where he played well.

Yesterday, a great attendance from players all over the country forced organisers to extend the tournament to four days instead of three to accommodate all who participarted in the preliminary matches that had been lined-up for the first two days.

Kajiado boxers also made their presence felt after Ibrahim Ntheleku secured a 3-0 win over Julius Githinji of Laikipia in a bantamweight clash that had seven bouts spread over the first two days.

Interestingly, Mombasa County, which had earlier planned not to honour the event, sent their squad of five boxers albeit without a coach at the eleventh hour.

“We received some money that wasn’t enough for all of us at the last minute. We decided to invest it only on five players who trained hard and were eagerly awaiting to board a bus to the city,” said Mombasa County Boxing Association secretary general Chrispin Onyango.

“We negotiated with the Siaya tactician after I surrendered my slot to one of the boxers as a morale booster to the entire squad."

Two of the coastal boxers lost their opening matches as another won, but two were scheduled to the ring by last evening.

Bantamweight Eliston Shiga and flyweight Abdalla Juma lost their matches on unanimous points’ decision to experienced two KDF boxers.

Shiga was beaten by Dennis Mwendwa while Juma fell to Abednego Kyalo.

On his part, minimumweight Alex Mweni of Mombasa defeated Nakuru’s Peter Munene when the referee stopped the contest (RSC) in the first round.