Nairobi Gold Winners Advocate For Women’s Boxing League To Transform Kenya’s Boxing Scene

By Aoma Keziah

Box Girls Kenya, a community-based boxing organization, has called for the creation of a women’s boxing league in Kenya to enhance talent development and uplift the sport nationwide. The organization made the appeal during the unveiling ceremony where they were recognized as the Nairobi region winners of the Tujiamini Gold Award, walking away with KSh 500,000.

Box Girls Kenya has been at the forefront of promoting women’s participation in boxing and sports in general. Their call for a structured women’s boxing league is aimed at providing a professional platform to help female athletes in the sport reach their full potential and compete on a national and international level.

Speaking at the event,  Analo Anjere, boxing coach and founder of Box Girls Kenya,  emphasized the need for consistent support for female athletes, highlighting the challenges they face in finding training opportunities and competitive platforms.

“We need a well-structured and exclusive Women’s Boxing League run entirely by the women to support enrolment and competitiveness in the sport through regular tournaments. This will help build up our amateur and professional rankings to give our female boxers an edge regionally and globally.” Said Anjere.

Anjere further explained that  the Tujiamini award, will go into upgrading their gym and training facilities located in Kariobangi area of Embakasi North Constituency in Nairobi.

According to Sarah Achieng, a professional boxer and the sports administrator at Box Girls Kenya, in spite of a growing interest and talent in Kenya, women boxing remains critically under developed in comparison to its male counterpart.

“Regular scheduled fights are crucial for the growth and development of boxing. Female boxers in particular, need consistent competition to maximise their full potential. I urge the public to strongly support women sports because we have the talent and requisite competitive spirit to succeed.” Noted Achieng.

Box Girls Kenya which focuses on the growth of female boxers in the grassroots, began in 2007 with just two women aspiring to box and excel in the sport. It has to date trained and mentored over 4,000 girls in boxing and self defence classes and hopes to ultimately expand to include other sports and non-sports activities to keep empowering girls beyond the boxing ring.

Lyle Asiligwa Director at DBA Africa that have partnered with SportPesa in the Tujiamini Initiative acknowledged the immense talent in young women looking for advancement opportunities in the community.

“The Nairobi region’s Tujiamini submissions displayed a high level of competitiveness and Box Girls Kenya stood out as a key driver of sporting talent and positive change in the community. Their blend of amateur and professional boxing is proving to be high-yielding and we look forward to seeing more exploits from the club.” He said.

The Tujiamini initiative, powered by SportPesa, aims to nurture and support sports and talent at the grassroots and community level. The program is designed to improve the quality of sports in Kenya by offering financial and structural backing to deserving organizations.The initiatiactive now  heads to South Rift region in September,  Young people have been urged to enrol in large numbers as it  nears completion in November.