Gicharu leads Hit Squad’s hunt for Olympic tickets

Benson Gicharu Njangiru will be hoping to qualify for a second successive Olympics at the Baku Qualifiers that will be held in Azerbijan until June 25 as the Hit Squad team left the country on Wednesday.

The two-time Commonwealth medallist who was the only Kenyan male boxer in London 2012 is part of the Kenyan contingent that departed on Thursday for Baku to seek a slot after crashing out at the preliminary stage of the final Africa Rio 2016 qualifiers in Yaoundé, Cameroon in March.

Rayton Okwiri was the sole fighter to punch his ticket to Brazil at the Yaounde qualifiers.

Alongside Gicharu, Nickson Abaka whose is a veteran of the Beijing 2008 Olympics in still believes he has more to offer as he seeks a return to the competition after also failing to make it in Cameroon.

The veteran boxer, 35 who won bronze medal at the 2015 World Military Games is set to take part in the qualifiers four days after facing Vikas Krishan in the non-ranking AIBA Pro Boxing clash in New Delhi, India.

“He needed to gauge his physical and mental capabilities and we took the competition in India as a training session for him to get him ready for the Rio qualifiers in Azerbaijan,” Boxing Association of Kenya chairman, John Kameta said.

Speaking ahead of the team’s departure, Kameta believes that the side’s physical and mental capability will play a huge role in the boxers’ conquest of securing a place in Brazil this year.

“Unlike before, the boxers and a team of expert coaches had a 45-day camp where they held training sessions and necessary preparations for the qualifiers in Azerbaijan. This way the boxers would not only get the training from the coaches but would also have the chance to learn from themselves,” the president asserted.

“In previous tournaments like the Commonwealth Games eight boxers qualified for the quarterfinals and this shows the desire in the boxers to achieve maximum heights in boxing,” he added.

In a tournament which sees a total of 469 boxers from 105 nations expected to show up, Kenya will be represented in six categories.

1. Simon Mulinge Nzioki- flyweight (52kgs)

2. Benson Gicharu Njangiru-Bantaweight (56kgs)

3. Nicholas Okongo Okoth- Lightweight (60kgs)

4. Nickson Otieno Abaka- Middleweight (75kgs)

5. Elly Ajowi Ocholla- Light-Heavyweight (85kgs)

6. Aziz Ali- Super-Heavyweight (91kgs)

Report by John Njuguna