• I was confident of making Team Kenya to the World Under-20 Championships — Lesiya.
• In Machakos, 80 athletes received the rations where coach James Mutisya echoed Muteti’s sentiments.
Africa Youth 1,500m champion Nickson Lesiya has expressed his disappointment following the postponement of the World Under-20 Championships earlier set for Nairobi next month.
At 19, Lesiya will be ineligible to compete at the championships next year.
Lesiya was looking forward to the event, having grabbed the youth title in Chlef, Algeria and then winning a silver medal in the same discipline at the Africa Junior Championships in Ivory Coast. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the event will be a no-show this year and this has left him heartbroken.
“I was confident of making Team Kenya to the World Under-20 Championships,” said the Form Four student at Kyochome Secondary School in Ndumbi, Makueni County.
“Psychologically, I had prepared to compete at the World Championships and then sit for my Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination later in the year. None of this seems certain at the moment.”
He continued: “We are being urged to train individually to keep fit but it feels lonely as opposed to when we were at the camp.”
The World U-20 is contested by athletes 19 years old or younger as of December 31 on the year of the competition.
Lesiya was speaking while receiving foodstuffs and cash stipend from the Ministry of Sports through Athletics Kenya Youth Development chairman, Barnabas Korir over the weekend. Over 50 athletes benefited from the rations with coach Peter Muteti, saying the same will go a long way in motivating the athletes to work hard.
“This donation has come at the right time. The athletes have suffered mentally since the camp and schools were closed and this show somebody somewhere still cares,” said Muteti.
“It has not been easy for us as coaches either. We send programmes to the athletes through their parents’ phones but monitoring is quite challenging. We have to drive for long distances to access their homes where sometimes we encounter uncooperative parents.”
In Machakos, 80 athletes received the rations where coach James Mutisya echoed Muteti’s sentiments. “It is really tough to monitor them while at their homes. In addition, some will be over-age by the time the event is held and this has left themdemoralised,” said Mutisya.
Korir said the donations were part of the U20 camp programme where athletes to represent the country would have been identified.
“We want to thank Sports CS Amina Mohamed for recognising the need to take care of our juniors. They are the future of our sport and this gesture shows that we care for them especially at these difficult times,” said Korir.
“The CS has given us the green light to use the kitty meant for April U20 camps to cushion them as they train from their homes. We have 19 camps and we want everyone of the athletes to feel appreciated.”
“Coaches and other support staff who were in charge of the camps will also benefit from the initiative,” Korir concluded.