The Kenya taekwondo team has set their sights on erasing the ghosts of the poor performance they exhibited in Congo Brazzaville four years ago when for the first time in the history of the sport they failed to win a medal at the African Games.
Then the team was marred with wrangles as two different entities purported to represent the country with misunderstanding and poor preparations prior to the games taking a toll on the squad.
“The performance in Brazzaville was an eye opener for the taekwondo fraternity. That is why things are very different right now. I must say this is the best-prepared team in the history of the sport and we expect to get back to the medal bracket,” said coach Nesmus Mbati, who was the team manager four years ago.
Mbati revealed that no effort has been spared by the Kenya Taekwondo Federation under Major. Rt Suleiman Sumba and the Ministry of Sports to ensure they stay on course.
“We started our preparations in January and in June, the ministry facilitated us to feature in the Genocide Memorial tournament where we finished third to Rwanda teams,” stated Mbati.
The team also had a two-week training camp at Kibabii University, which has been earmarked as a future Centre of Excellence for the sport. Prior to going for residential training at Kasarani, a squad of 16 through the support of World Taekwondo Africa and the Ministry of Sports, travelled to Egypt for training, visiting cities of Alexandria, Fayoum and Cairo with the continent’s best teams.
“The aim of the Egypt tour was to gauge our preparedness. From what we experienced, we are in a good position to come back with medals,” said Mbati.
The coach, however, decried the decision to whittle down their travelling party from 16 players to 12.
“It’s disheartening for athletes who have sacrificed their time all year to be suddenly told you are not part of the travelling team. We have contacted the ministry through our federation secretary (George Wesonga) to ensure our slots are reinstated,” lamented Mbati.
Among those athletes who were dropped at the last minute are Innocent Wafula (middleweight, Kibabii University), Francis Ngugi (instructor, Ruiru), Edna Sichangi (flyweight, Kibabii University) and Emily Anyango (Businesswoman, Nairobi). A contingent of sixteen among them 12 players —six male and six female—and four coaches will make the travelling party for the games starting Monday.
Squad:
Men—Stephen Odhiambo(Flyweight, Kibabii),Collins Khaemba (bantam, Kibabii),Shawn Michael Muya (feather, Strathmore), Japheth Ngolo (light, Homabay), Vincent Dok (welter, Kisumu), Brian Nyore (heavy, Kenya Police); Women: Elizabeth Njogu (fin,Kibabii), Beatrice Mwangi (bantam, Egerton), Mary Muriu (feather, Waithaka), Milka Akinyi (light, Safari Park), Everlyn Aluoch (middle, Kibabii), Faith Ogallo (heavy, Kibabii).
