The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) executive director of communications Jackie Brock-Doyle has challenged Kenya to build on the success achieved in the 2007 Cross Country and last year’s World U-18 Championships to stage a successful World U-20 Championships next year.
Yesterday, Jackie
led a high power delegation from the world governing body flanked by government officials drawn from the Ministry of Sports in inspecting the Moi Stadium, Kasarani, which is penciled to host next year’s event between July 7 and 12.
Jackie
said Kenya should reemploy similar preparation mechanisms to the ones of 2007 Cross Country staged in Mombasa and last year’s junior event whose success saw IAAF consider Kenya for the U-20 event.
“Kenya should build on the success of the two previous events to stage a successful event next year. The preparations thus far are good and we are looking forward for a successful event,” said Jackie.
The Chief Administrative Secretary at the Ministry of Sports, Hassan Noor, who stood in for Cabinet Secretary, Rashid Echesa expressed the government’s commitment in aiding Athletics Kenya to host a successful event. The government has announced that a whooping Sh1.6 billion had been set aside for the preparation of the event.
“The government is committed in supporting the championship as part of it’s plan in developing the sport. The level of preparedness is up and shall meet the standards of IAAF,” said Noor.
Noor further assured participants of their safety following Tuesday’s terror attack at a Nairobi based hotel. Last year a number of countries gave the U-18 championships a wide berth citing insecurity in the country.
“I want to assure all that the country is safe for all participating nations and tourists. Last Tuesday’s incident was a cowardly act meant to cause fear but we assure that the situation has been contained. We are focused to host a successful event,” he added.