Shame as Kenya Deaflympics remain stuck as World Championships start

The national athletics team has not yet departed for Bulgaria for the World Deaf Championships that start in Bulgaria on Saturday.

The team has been stranded for the past three days over a Visa hitch with Bulgaria having no consular services in the country.

The Government has promised the squad will travel to the Eastern European nation by the end of Saturday.

“We are on top of things but unfortunately they will miss the marathon,” a State official told Citizen Digital.

Kenya was expected to bag her first medals at the event in Sunday’s marathon but the athletes will not be there in time for the start.

“We are on our way to the Turkish Embassy to see if we can get the Visas.

“We have assembled late, like last time; we got our Visas from South Africa that normally takes 10 days hence delayed depart.” Deaflympic coach Caroline Kola added.

The Deaf Athletics Association of Kenya (DAAK) was forced to drop eight athletes from the squad to fit a revised budget a fortnight ago.

Training period of the team for the third edition of the event was shortened also due to lack of funds.

A squad of 23 was selected three weeks ago to represent Kenya in the championships, after two-day national deaf championships Trials held at the Safaricom Stadium Kasarani.

The athletes will participate in various races including 200m, 10,000m, 800m, 400m, 100m, 3000m Steeplechase, 1500m, 5000m and field events.

The world championships in Bulgaria are expected to help the athletes prepare for the 2017 Deaflympic Games in Turkey.

During the last edition of Deaflympic Games held in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2013, Kenya performed well winning 17 medals (6 Gold, 5 Silver and 6 Bronze) to top Africa and was ranked eighth globally out of 72 countries.

Report by Edward Mokuah

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World Championships Deaflympics

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