KDF close in on league title after garnering 26 points in Embu leg

Chrispin Murimi (red) from KDF and Bonifas Mugunde from Kenya Police take on each other during finals of National Boxing competition at Ofafa Hall in Kisumu. [FILE]

Former champions Kenya Defence Forces are on the verge of winning the league championships for the first time in six years.

By amassing 26 points during the third leg of the National Boxing League hosted at Moi Stadium in Embu over the weekend, KDF are a stone throw away from being declared the league champions.

That development resulted in the soldiers extending their points’ tally to 76 points ahead of defending champions Kenya Police who missed the showpiece in Embu.

Second in the overall standings are Nairobi County Boxing team with 33 points ahead of the policemen who are on 26 points followed by Kibra 22, Nakuru 16 and Kisumu County 11 as the top five teams.

KDF team manager Ben Maingi urged his boxers not to be complacent in the remaining two legs of the league championships saying it could complicate their ride to the top honours.

“We are not relenting on this one. We are going to fight to the conclusion of the league championships now that we have taken a commanding lead,” Maingi told Standard Sports from Embu.

KDF got it easy after the policemen and former champions Kenya Prisons skipped the event owing to financial difficulties.

On their part, Nakuru Amateur Boxing Club is steadily and gradually regaining her lost glory this time round after emerging third with six points together with Kibra behind KDF 26 and Nairobi County 12 points.

Nakuru head coach Martin Lutta said his focus is to win the league, which should happen soon but it’s a step at a time in that journey.

“We have just started to revive standards here in the county. It starts with my club but all we want is meritocracy in the management of the league championships,” he told Standard Sports.

Lutta said most of his players are schoolboys who cannot honour the league championships on week-days if not hosted on school holidays.

“The federation needs to come up with a formula to host the league championships on school holidays to allow everybody to attend the league championships. Not all boxers are employed to permit them have matches anytime,” he said.

Meanwhile, the penultimate leg of the league championships is headed to Nanyuki from November 7-9 with the last leg slated for Homa Bay on December 19-21.