Tanzania has surrendered the right of hosting this year's Africa Zone 3 Boxing Championship to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The development was brought to public light at the conclusion of last Sunday's virtual meeting that brought together presidents of Zone 3 African Boxing Federation member associations.
In a press statement released on Tuesday, the secretary of the federation Andre Basile Kalong attributed Tanzania's decision to financial constraints.
“Following an emergency zoom meeting held on February 27 following the disclaimer of Tanzania for financial and logistics reasons, the presidents unanimously designated the Democratic Republic of Congo to shelter Zone 3 Championship as the organisation became practically hopeless,” Kalong said.
Kalong described the event as a perfect stage for participants to sharpen their claws ahead of the forthcoming major international shows.
“To this end, we invite you to massively take part in this competition which will be held from April 3 to 10 ahead of the women's World Boxing Championship and AFBC Boxing Championship announced to take place in a few months.”
“In addition, Zone 3 will hold its annual meeting on the sidelines of the competition to redefine its objectives and capitalise on its achievements in terms of regularity of competitions and solidarity and confraternity between the various federations,” Kalong added.
Congo will be hosting the competition for the second consecutive year.
The Kenyan contingent will look to emulate their performance at last year's edition of the games, where they plundered a whopping 13 medals on the final day of the competition.
Heavyweight pugilist Elly Ajowi claimed the country's only gold in a swoop that also saw Kenya bag five silver and seven bronze medals.
Ajowi, a National Police Service officer, exhibited exceptional form against Cameroonian Yegnong Maxime whom he schooled and pulverized in equal measure during the event.
The Hit Squad's medal overhaul marked a new milestone in history with four female boxers successfully claiming their clout in the male-dominated sport.
The 2018 Commonwealth bronze medallist Christine Ongare will have a perfect opportunity to sharpen her claws ahead of the Women's Championships in Turkey. She settled for silver in Congo during last year's event.