The Nyanza South region World Under 20 pre-trial championships scheduled for Friday, June 4 has been postponed.
The championships will now be held on June 11 at Kisii University, said Nyanza South regional chairman Peter Angwenyi.
Angwenyi said they decided to postpone the event by a week to give athletes who participated in the three-day 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games pre-trials at Nyayo National Stadium time to recover.
“We also wanted to give athletes and coaches enough time to prepare for the pre-trials,” added Angwenyi, who spoke to the Star on phone.
He further noted that most students will be at home for half term and will not get an opportunity to take part in the event on June 4.
“We want to accommodate all our upcoming athletes because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to represent Kenya at junior levels on home soil,” said Angwenyi.
“We expect a highly competitive pre-trials event because the athletes have been training despite the Covid-19 challenges. Our target is to have more than 10 athletes in the Team Kenya for World Under 20 championships in August.”
Angwenyi said the invited camps include Mogonga PAG, Eluni, Girango Youth Sports Center, Keberesi, Boruma, Kiendege and Mochenwa.
Girango Youth Sports Center director and coach Isaac Nyambega yesterday said he will field a strong team of 50 budding athletes for the pre-trials.
The event will be the fourth to be held by Athletics Kenya. The first was staged by AK Southern Region in Machakos and the second at Eliud Kipchoge Sports Complex in Kapsabet, Nandi County nine days ago. The third will be at Kericho on June 5.
Most camps in Kisii and Nyamira are focusing on sprints and field events, a move that has been welcomed by Athletics Kenya director of Youth Development Barnaba Korir, who termed the two aspects as 'Kenya’s biggest challenge'.
