 3 has been done, Kankura. Welcome to the touch and how are you doing, my brother? Thank you very much for inviting me. It's been a minute, man. It's been a while. The last time we spoke, we were going for the elections for the president of the International Association. Oh yeah, it was a repeat election. Repeat election, yes. It didn't happen and it's been a very rough season in terms of sports politics. Yes. But I think it's still going to have that challenge between the IBA and the International Olympic Committee. Yes. Because as of now, the IOC has made a decision that boxing will be managed by IOC Boxing Task Force for the Paris 2024. Yes. And as of now also for the 2020 Olympic Games, boxing is not in the roster. It's subject to some issues that IOC wants to resolve. Yes, so there are issues to be sorted out. And sometimes the relation looks so sour. Yes. Because for instance when the IBA was doing world championship, they wanted the world championship to be used as Olympic qualifiers. IOC had already made a decision on which tournament will be the Olympic qualifiers. So there's a lot of politics going on between IOC and IBA. But we hope those politics are going to be resolved so that boxers do not suffer. Because when the big boys are fighting, it's the sport that suffers at the grassroot level. Yes. That is very true. But all in all, you had a very good, I think, championship, the women world championship that happened in New Delhi, India. Tell us how was it and how did Kenya perform? The world championship was organised in India, New Delhi, and it was a very good championship. For us, we were lucky enough that we were able to send a full team of 11 boxers. Unfortunately, the results were not as impressive as you would like them to be. Because we had one boxer getting to the quarterfinal stage. That's the team captain Elizabeth Antiego. She lost to a very good boxer in the quarterfinal from Kazakhstan. But she gave a very good account of herself. The others, we had Christine Ongare losing the second round of the minimum bout against a boxer from Tanzania. No, she won against Tanzania, then she lost against Taki. But through a very controversial decision by the referee from Japan. But the other boxers, all of them lost in the first round. Yes. But I can say a good number of them gave a very good account of themselves. We had about three fights where we didn't agree with the decision of the judges. We also have a few, about three who didn't perform to their level best at all. And I think as a federation, when you look at the list of the team that is going to Dar, we have made some changes there. Because we believe that when these boxers get an opportunity to compete at that very high level, then they need to perform to those standards. Yes. At least we don't demand that you must win a medal, but you must give your all. Yes. So we thought that they fought against opponents who were weaker than them and yet they lost. So you find somebody wins first round and then somebody comes and wins two rounds. And you see that somebody is not that committed to winning a fight. So we were against that and we are going to take decision as a federation. Mejali more on to now to the attitude of our girls and boys who went there now. Yes. It's for girls because it's for women world championship. So all the boxers are talking about are women. Yes. We had a very good outing and I can say there is a lot of improvement from our girls. And I believe when now we come to compete in the African continent where most of the teams are about our level, I think the improvement that we saw will show. Yes. Because normally at the world championship level you are competing again as the best in the world. And you see now with the world championship we don't have qualifiers such that the top box are eliminated. So you have all the top boxers from the world competing there. Again we have prize money for the second time that is happening. Yes. The first time was last year during the world championship in Istanbul. This time round still we had prize money of $100,000 for gold medal. Then we have $50,000 for silver medal and $25,000 for bronze medal. So that one also makes the competition to be very competitive. Yes. And I believe for those who watch the competition the standards were quite high. Yes. The level of shifting was not that good. There are some decisions that we didn't agree with. But generally I would say it was a successful world championship for the IBA. The controversial decisions were not only from Kenya but other countries also complained. What are some of the key decisions that you are against from these judges? For instance, in the bout between our minimum 8 Kristina Ongari again Esther Gal from Turkey, we actually don't know what happened because the referee gave account for a very soft blow. Normally a referee needs to give account when a boxer has been hurt by a punch. So that maybe a punch has made you to go down. Yes. Or a punch has made you to stagger your drunk. Yes. So the referee gives your account to give you time to recover. But this time we saw a referee giving account where somebody has tapped you with a blow that has no impact. Yes. So which is again now boxing is very subjective because the boxer also complains that they don't know what happened for the fight to be stopped. And again the same referee that did that to Ongari had done that before to another boxer who was doing a debut at the world championship that is Friza Nyango. Yes. And Friza Nyango was fighting against Africa champion and world champion silver medalist Imani Kelif from Algeria. Yes. And in the first round the referee gave account for and again for a soft blow. Yes. And then after a small exchange the referee stopped. Yes. Saying the boxer should go to the corners. We didn't know what had happened also because the boxer has not received any punch. The referee just stopped the fight. Yes. Our coach was very bitter. We complained to the technical delegates who is the official in charge of the tournament there. And the technical delegates say that he also didn't agree with what had happened. Yes. But the referee had made a decision and that was deep to be final. Yes. So that's how we lost two of our bouts and the circumstances were not the best. So there are no other appeal mechanism for decisions that have been done in the boxing ring. So we just had to live with the decisions that were taken. But deep down we feel that our boxers had a chance to give a very good account of themselves. Even though we know they were fighting against a champion like Imani Kelif. Imani Kelif has been Africa champion, has been to the Olympics, has won a historic medal at the world championship level. And this time she had switched to it, going to the welterweight. Last time she won silver in the light welterweight division. So this time around she wants to go to the Olympics. So she goes up to the welterweight and the first bout she is drawn again as a Kenyan. And the decision was not the best. We know Kelif is quality. Yes. And probably if they had gone for the full bout, she will probably have won. Yes. But I believe the referee should have given our girl Friza Nyango to give an account of herself because she had not been hurt when the fight was stopped. Yes. When you look at Kenya, Africa, how do we compare to the rest of the world? I don't know. There is a challenge there because in total we had about 65 countries competing. Yes. Of course we had a few countries that had recorded the tournament. But 65 turned out and out of 65, 11 African countries participated. But again now when you look at deep down at those teams out of the 11 that represented the continent at the world championship level, it's only Kenya that had 11 boxers. Yes. The other big team to us was Algeria with 6. The rest of the teams, Morocco and Mozambique had 4. Yes. The others had 1-1. Yes. So you find the entire team from the boxers from Africa were 41 and the tournament had about 324 boxes. Yes. So you can find the number of boxers from Africa participating at that high level is very minimal. Yes. I think that's what now also minimizes our chances of maybe having to get to the latter stages of the competition. Even though still with the low numbers, I was very proud of the performance by some of the African sisters especially from Morocco where we had a historic gold medal from Africa, the very first one at the world championship level by Mady Khadija from Morocco in the Hivway division. Yes. She got a gold medal and then she also got a silver, no a bronze medal from minimum weight from Agal called Yasmin Mutagi from Morocco also. So Africa got 2 medals in the entire championship although which is a lower number of medals compared to last time we had 5 medals from Africa. So I still think Africa has a long way to go to be able to compete at that high level and win medals. Yes. I think it has maybe something to do with the training methodologies. Yes. And also I think our preparations in Africa are normally not the best because we normally go for training for a very short duration of time. Yes. We don't have exposure tournament where we are competing among the best boxers maybe even from Africa or from across the world. So that when we go to some of these major championships we are not as prepared as those we are going to compete against. Yes. And we also know the credibility of some of the boxers competing there. It's top notch. Yes. Very, very high level. Yes. And we also had for the first time we had a professional world champion competing. Yes. In the lightweight division from France. Yes. And unfortunately she was eliminated at the quarter final level. Yes. Which I thought maybe it's a message also to show that the guys competing at that much level are also very good boxers competing at that level. Yes. And for us making a quarter final with Elisabeth and Diego has got to be a big improvement for us. Yes, it was very good for that. I believe what made her to get that there was when she was number two seed in the world because of having won a silver medal at the Africa Championship. Yes. Which was done last year sometimes in November. So I believe that because they were seeding in the tournament. Yes. So people if you win a continental championship you earn very many points and that made her to be number two in the world at the world championship. And when it comes now to the draw the top seeds normally where we have opportunity for buys it goes to the top seeds. So she was able to benefit out of that and get a very good buy. But I wouldn't complain about her loss because she lost to a very good boxer. You could see the standards were very high she gave a very good. I think to me that's the best performance she has ever had in her boxing career and yet she lost. But you can't complain. It's a performance that you'll be proud even when you lose. You see that performance was very good. Well we are talking to Dan Kankure is the communications director boxing association of Kenya. And that is just a review of the women world championship that happened in New Delhi, India. Where Elizabeth and Diego Kenyan made it to the quarter final of that event. But now let's come back home and we got to talk about the African zone three boxing championship. It will be happening from the 18th to the 22nd of April in Daresalam. And we have got some, some of our boxers like Christine Ongare talking about how they are preparing for that event. We have got also the captain for the men, Bonfest Mugunde who is actually captaining the men for the very first time. We will be telling us how they are preparing for that and the coach Musa Benjamin. Let's listen to them and then we'll be talking about how the preparations are going on in that, for that event. Nabiliv, still in the triangu. Atabadu kama nda pata gold in Africa. Badu nda kwa sigia, chimiza in the triangu. Jum do triangu ni, wa foreign, wa chana na Africa. Ii yaatu wupu wa radion. Ha we wupu na sisi we wusi. Ii ndi wa ndi wa kwa gama ii main gold. But so far so good niko poa. Nabiliv nda kupafum poa kusbabu in Africa. Nabiliv kwa God na pitele mazoizinu wa ni mechapa. Siamini kwa weiti yam kusbabu kusaisi kwanzei weiti ni kukonfo tabu. Siamini kuna ulemonye anezatutu kia from noia. Ani tuwe kwa ii weiti. Sia tina boost pa tkulingana na ilezozi ni ni mechapa. Kusabu kila umutua kitoka kwa country ake. Ana kubachampo yo country. But sasa kulingana ni kukwa champi ni raisi. But to maintain the championship upon doshide wa inakua. So wainabidi ni wak extra mile. Kusabu piyokuna ni wakilala. Mimindua na awalili ju yam. So pia mi na inapa. Ni outbox. Kwa wak extra na nabiliv. Nakam na the best revoke results. Ita kava iile nye nili wa letia dis. Komadjina nibon fasi megrunde. Natiza light middle weight. 71 kgs. Na shkuru bodu kwa inafasi. Nia kwa hapa. Sera isi. Ni bidinda ni ita kaka. Nia itajika hapa. So, mapreparationitu kupawa. Kusabutu kuna ma game bili zenez kumeli tu. Kuna zone 3. Na the big one ni wala wal championship ya. Wal championship yende the big one. Na yendo targeti tu kusababu. Iyendo nye kilamtu na kilamtu na anapata ametaragia. So, preparationitu kupawa. Na shkuru bodu kwa kuna game tuli yenda Rwanda. Nitu yaapko games za polisi. Amba nili yenda. Nili kachi kwa gold. Na nili shkuru bodu kusabu. Nili yona mazezineitu kwa meifanya. Nili yona hapa. So, badotu nili hapa na team Kenya. Kuna national team. So, preparationitu. Which is ok na shkuru bodu. It's not easy. It's not easy. You have to put your heart. So, zone 3 ni kumeli tu tena. Last time kwen nili yenda i zone 3 nili kachi kudena bronze. But this round, na shkuru bodu yazi mungu, kwa sku ningine. Nizako, kutana fahana mazezini visuri. Kyu dita arisha katika koa masindaano ya afrika zone 3 championship. Amba yutafanika kule da re salam kwanziata re kumina nanene. Adita re shinatatu muzi wuu nanene. Teamu me kwa kenelia visuri na mazezini, me kwa bada teamu ya kina dada kutoka kule India. Temu kudiana tukuhanza mazezini kwa anza mazwezi moja kwa moja, kwa moja na timi wa naume anba wapia wata kwa wana tumia masinda nohaya kwa maandalizia wubingo adunia chezu wa upandua kina wanaume anba wita anza tare moja mozu wa tana so team tu mendelevi zulu na mazwezi, akuna manjira ayote ba adia wasichana anba wali kwa fatika masinda na umimunga aminoa world championships, tumona waze kwa fatia wali anba wali perform kwa kadria wezo al na fasi katika masina na nohaya azo untui hili waze kwa gaza kupata experience na apia psychologically wapatia boosts wakiyoza kushina ma about zao so tumendelevi zuri, tunania kwa wezo akuna waze mungu tu ondoke kama tarei shirina kakumina sita kwa ilakia adara salam na tutarakili shuwa katika wio hango, vio te zao timi wa naume, manake kama ni mevasema apwa wali wana prepare for man world championships anba wita fani kakulu uzba kistan na badia kina dada pia so timi kusawa na fukiri moraliko yukabisa wako tarei kufkia wikiyo tarei kumina sita aukumina nane tutakua tuko tarei kwa kileshenshietu kama kawida na kufanya kwa chochotia ambacho tutaweza iliku eza kuzoa medali kaza etu kikumbuka koma moka jana tutaweza kwa na badia 2 na tulipata gold sita tungipenda kwa improve on ni o medal tali na vile vile kweibuka kama wa shindwa machinano hawe azonti aita kwa rahisi lakini tuta paman that is the coach Musa Benjamin there and also Bonfers Mogunde the captain and Christine Ongare as they are preparing for the Africa zone 3 boxing championship that will be happening in da from the 18 to the 22nd of April last time when we went out for this championship actually we came back with the 6 gold 5 silver and 7 bronze how is the mood in Kampu for these guys and the mood is very bullish because I believe they are seeing a chance where they can go and redeem themselves especially the ones who are in India yes and the ones who the men who had no tournament at least we had a local tournament for the KDF guys had a tournament and I believe the guys from Kenya police also were in Iapco in Rwanda and like our captain was there and he won gold so I believe he is rearing to go and maybe win the gold medal in the zone 3 I believe in total as a federation we are just thinking of how we can go and better our performance at the zone 3 championship where last time we were number 2 and our hope is that this time round that is being held in our neighbor our sister country in Tanzania we can go there and maybe win the overall title but that means commitment by our boxers to go and do their best at their individual level so that at the end of the championship when we look at our bag of medals we top the table so the hope of the federation is that we will be able to send a team that is going to represent the country effectively and probably win the overall title this time round Yes Have they named some of the players who are actually traveling? Yes, some of the boxers that we have are the usual regulars although we had some changes because somebody like our former captain Nick Kokoth has since retired we have named the new captain for the national boxing team and that is Boniface Mugunde who will be the captain of the main side and Elizabeth Andiego is the captain of the women's side but when we have both Yes Andiego is the overall captain Yes, for the boxers who are in the team that is likely to go and do duty in Tanzania we have minimum weight Abednego Kiyalo then in the fly weight we have David Karanja who is the defending champion Yes then Shafi Bakari he is in featherweight he is also the defending champion we have Samuel Njao also the defending champion Yes then in the light weight we have Ethan Maina light welter we have Joseph Shigali then in welterweight we have Steve Olland light middleweight we have Boniface Mugunde who is the captain Yes in the middleweight we have Edwin Okongo silver medalist last time round Yes then light heavyweight we have a debutant in Robert Okaka then cruiserweight we have Hazaron Maganga heavyweight we have Peter Abuti and in super heavyweight we have a defending champion in Elia Joy Yes and then on the women's side we have Christine Ongare Emily Yuma Emily Yuma was not with us in New Delhi Yes she had a paperwork issue but we think she selected enough to be in the team and then we have Banta Mui we have Amina Mata then we have Pauline Chege then light weight we have Stacey Ayoma welterweight we have Frisa Nyango and Elizabeth Andiego who is the captain of the team Yes Yes I think 21 boxers 13 men 8 femen this look like a tough squad a quarterfinal like Andiego now we can expect a gold medal from her definitely being that she is Africa number 2 at the heavyweight level Yes and the person who defeated her the Africa for the Africa gold is now the world champion Yes Madika Deja so I believe at the zone 3 boxing championship she should be able to go and win the title and by the way she is defending champion Yes also she won the gold last time round she is the envy of men in Darau Yes a big one should be one of the start traction for the show well it's a big one there let's hope that it will come out well we have got other events that are coming up we got the main world championship in Tashket Uzbekistan Kenya is also sending a team there in May Yes we are hoping to send a team at the world championship for men and actually the tournament that we have in Daru Salam for the Africa zone 3 I want to use it as a build up for the world championship because we believe the world championship is Tara is a Tara championship for our boxers Yes whom we also are thinking of prepare we are using that also as a yardstick to measure how to get ourselves as we prepare for Olympic qualifiers Yes so we think that being able to compete at the world championship level is a good gauge for us to go and test ourselves and see how far we have gone in our preparation see which areas we need to work on more so that by the time it comes to the Olympic qualifiers we'll be at our top level and be able to compete effectively and probably win win the slots for the Olympic because ideally we have never missed to to represent at the Olympic level but this time the quota system for the qualifiers are not fragile Yes so we really need to prepare very well so that when it gets to that time as a team we are ready for the challenge Yes and it's a very serious challenge you have actually talked about but I will want to get it in detail because Pari 2024 is actually here it's just an year away to the Olympics in 2024 How tough is the quota system for the qualifiers for the Olympics more so for the African teams Personally I feel it's a very big challenge for us because I believe that whoever came up with that quota system discriminated against Africa Yes It seems without doubt I can say that the Pari Olympic Games is going to be one Olympic where Africa is going to have the least number of representatives ever Yes You know in Africa we have 54 countries Yes and for instance when you look at the quota system for Africa the Olympic qualifier for Africa which ideally was supposed to be the Africa Games Yes which were to be held in Accra in the month of August and I believe have been postponed to March which presents a new problem Yes because that was supposed to be the first qualifier for Africa for men we are only qualifying 7 we have 7 weight categories so it's only the gold medalists at the Africa Games that are going to qualify for the Pari Olympic Games Yes for the women it's going to be 11 and we have 6 weight categories for women at the Olympics but for the Africa qualifier the first one it's going to be 11 boxers that means the finalists in the lower weights and the gold medalists at the middle weight division that is the heaviest weight for women is middle weight Yes and probably have bad news for some boxers because the heavyweight world champion Madi Khadija is coming down to middle weight she will be competing taking another slot of a person who she will get that one it's not her okay she will be fighting for it and I believe but I believe she is good enough to win it last time round we heard there is a story behind that because Madi Khadija had qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games she is the Africa champion 2019 won gold Africa Olympic qualifier she won gold Yes during the covid break she got pregnant and she gave birth 40 days to the start of the Tokyo Olympic Games Yes so she was not able to compete at the Olympic Games but because she wants to compete at the Olympics I had a talk with her when we were in New Delhi and she told me that that was her last heavyweight fight she's coming down to middle weight because she wants to compete at the Olympic Games so she'll compete as a middle weight and it's only one slot for that weight Yes and you can easily guess where it will go That's right the level of competition there will be really crucial for the African qualifiers we'll be waiting for that and see but finally talk to us about the Kenya Open championship that is ongoing also No ideally Kenya Open was supposed to happen between 6th and 8th of April Yes and the actually the next weekend Yes but now we had a problem because of Afrika Zontri Yes so Zontri they had not identified the dates and so when now Afrika Zontri came up with the dates that now they have put on the fixtures now we had to to postpone our Kenya Open and our calendar is a bit congested at this time so as a federation we are thinking of going to have a meeting and decide when we are going to reallocate the dates for the Kenya Open from now we see now Kenya the Zontri Afrika Boxing Championship is from 18th to actually so to suppose from 8th Yes so after they had done the changes they again postponed by one week so now they are they are still messing us a bit but we believe it's going to happen on 18th to 22nd and then from 30th to 14th of May we have main world championship which we are also taking part in so I believe where we might have some favorite dates to do Kenya Open might be in the month of June Yes because in July I believe there are other there are other afriks that are set there like the Africa Championship will be in July Yes and then in August we had all afrika games so we don't know what will happen there we are suspecting there could be Olympic qualifier in the month of August Yes so our calendar is a bit congested and our league is starting in September so we are working very hard to see that we are able to provide for Kenya Open Championship because we believe even some county teams had already selected teams to come and compete for Kenya Open Championship but again to us it doesn't make much sense when you are doing Kenya Open which is supposed to determine who is the national champion and the champions are not around Yes they are in zone 3 so we want to organize a tournament where everybody takes part in it and so when we get our Kenya Open Champions that becomes part of the preliminary team for the national team to be able to do the different assignments that we are going to have between now and the end of the year and I believe for all the boxers now the main target is the Olympic Games so I believe whoever is training is focusing on trying to get us a lot to be able to represent the country at the Olympic Games so in due time we are going to communicate the exact date when the Kenya Open will happen Yes but in the meantime we have some assignments which we have to undertake as a country the Boxing Federation of Kenya is going to be funding the Africa Zone 3 Boxing Championship Yes and we are hoping that we will get a good team to be able to represent us at the championship Well, thanks a lot Dan Kukura is the Communications Director Boxing Association of Kenya That is it for this segment I'm Ropa Rosoro let's go for a short commercial break also enjoy the Australian Grand Prix that happened and we can saw Vestaban also winning that one and Lewis Hamilton making it to the podium when we come back we'll be talking more on Fan Zone Banley is finally back on the English Premier League