The World Athletics delegation that toured the country last week has given the Local organising Committee a clean bill of health after inspecting facilities for the World Under 20 Championships last week.
The 19-man delegation that was in Nairobi late last week to inspect the championship venues, hotels and Athletes Village at Kenyatta University among other things, said they are happy with the milestones achieved so far.
“We achieved all of our objectives. It was really fantastic and a lot of things have been done. Coming together as a team was really important and we can now look forward to a great event. It’s good that we are all reading from the same page with the event only four months away,” said James Lord, director of broadcasting at World Athletics.
While closing the consultative sessions between the WA team and the Organising Committee, Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed assured the delegation that Kenya will be ready to host the U-20 show.
“There should be no cause for alarm on the areas that we seem to be lagging behind. We reworked the Nyayo Stadium in seven days in preparation for our late President Moi’s funeral service and this is a testament to what we are capable of despite limited time,” said Dr Amina. She added that the steering committee is burning the midnight oil to ensure the country pulls off a successful event.
The CS said the steering committee is action-oriented and they are currently sorting issues as they come. She said they have already released funds towards the Moi Stadium, Kasarani renovations and works will start in due course.
The CS, who was accompanied by the PS Joe Okudo and CAS Noor Hassan Noor, said they have instructions to have the stadium ready and in time for the Championships.
And in a new development, World Athletics has announced that the Under 20 show will be available free of charge on YouTube as they seek to reach out to a wider audience around the continent.
“We want to make sure that everyone across the continent watches the event. We will have a free to air deal in Kenya and Africa as a whole. We hope to stream live not just the races, but also feature highlights and interviews from the event. We will ensure everyone interested in watching the event gets access. We promise it is going to be spectacular,” said James Lord.
Already, teams like Germany have already sent a delegation to look at the facilities. The World Athletics Under 20 Championships will be held from July 7-12, 2020 at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani.
