Kenya National Sports Council chairman Nderitu Gikaria says Kenyan sportsmen and women can still use the All Africa Games to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games despite the postponement.
The All Africa Games earlier scheduled for August have now been pushed to March 8-24, 2024 in Ghana.
Gikaria said he is optimistic that there will be time to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games starting in July.
“We have a window of three-and-half months for the Olympics and I believe some of the qualification events will fall in place for Paris Games. Athletes should not lose focus because there will be time for qualification,” he added.
The All Africa Games were slated to take place in Ghana from August 4-19 but were postponed to next year due to economic pressure, delays in preparation and acrimony amongst stakeholders.
Ghana has been struggling to prepare the necessary hosting facilities for the event, which will be hosted across three cities in Ghana thus —Accra, Kumasi and Cape Coast.
He added that various committees for the All African Games will meet later this month to start planning with the new date in mind.
“The various committees for the games will start meeting later this month to deliberate on various Issues.
"We will also be looking at various qualification routes and am confident we will send a very strong team to the games in Ghana next year,” observed Gikaria.
The administrator observed that they had presented a budget to the Ministry of Sports for games but they may be forced to relook at it once again.
“Following the postponement of the game, we may have to re-do the budget again as this financial year ends in June. I am confident we will be supported by the ministry for next year's games," said Gikaria.
He noted that the various qualifications for various teams will be communicated in due course.
“The continental sporting federations will guide the affiliates and let us know in due course when the qualifications will start," added Gikaria, who was the chef de mission during the 2019 African Games in Rabat.
Kenya placed seventh on the medal table at the Rabat 2019 African Games after claiming 31 medals— 11 gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze.
