Kenya National Sports Council (KNSC) chairman Nderitu Gikaria has been appointed Kenya’s chef de mission to the All African Games from August 23-September 3 in Morocco later this year.
He will be assisted by National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) first vice president Shadrack Maluki.
Athletics Kenya (AK) first vice president, Paul Mutwii will be the general team manager, to be assisted by Kenya Swimming Federation treasurer, David Ngugi. The operations committee held its first meeting last week.
A steering committee and the Games General Management Committee, which will comprise operations committee and team managers will be constituted in due course by the ministry of sports. The games are slated for August 23 to September 3 in Rabat and Casablanca.
Speaking yesterday Gikaria said the number of athletes that will be determined in March once the qualifiers are done. “I think come March, we will know the composition of the Kenyan team that will go especially when it comes to the team sports once the qualifiers are done,” he added.
Kenya will be represented in 13 disciplines thus—athletics, swimming, karate, taekwondo, shooting, judo, boxing, Kick-boxing, tennis, cycling, wrestling, equestrian, table tennis and weight lifting. Gikaria hopes the team sports namely beach volleyball, football and basketball can qualify in order to increase their chances of qualification to next year’s Tokyo Olympics.
“Our volleyball girls have made their mark not only on the continent but also in the world and we hope they can qualify alongside the football team come the qualifiers,” he added.
Gikaria noted that wrangling federations will not be sending teams to the continental games. “Associations that have warring factions that do not have their house in order will be struck off from representing the country at the games,” he added.
Gikaria said preparations for the games have started and the government has assured the committee of their full backing. “We have had fruitful discussions with the government and they have told us to count on their support for this event,” he added.