A 16-year-old poor chess wizard from Kitui County picked among exponents to represent Kenya in the annual continental competitions risks losing his opportunity unless he gets financial sponsorship.
Joshua Mwendwa is among 12 chess players who qualified to represent the country at the prestigious sporting event which will take place in Namibia in mid-December. A request to the County government of Kitui to underwrite the cost of taking the boy to Namibia has been turned down.
The chess player needs Sh374,000 to fly to Namibia and participate in the 2019 African Youth Chess Championship competitions to be held at Windhoek from December 14 to December 22, 2019.
Speaking to press in Kitui Town on Wednesday, Mwendwa, regretted that he was on the verge of losing an opportunity of his life as his family was unable to raise the funds. He lamented that the Kitui county government said it could not afford to sponsor him.
A letter from the Kitui County Principal Sports Officer Pascal Mwanzia in response to a request by the Chess Kenya Federation Secretary-General John Mukambi said the county government was facing financial constraints and could not be of help.
With the efforts to get sponsorship from the Kitui county government and even the local elected leaders having come to nought, the Chess guru hopes that good samaritan will bail him out.
“I love chess very much and I’ve been playing up to the national levels since I joined high school in 2017. It really breaks my heart to realise that I finally qualified for international competitions but due to financial difficulties, I am likely to miss out unless I get immediate support,” lamented the young player.
