AK fears for blocked Nock polls consequence

The cancellation of the National Olympics Committee of Kenya (Nock) elections on Friday left the country’s participation at the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games in limbo just over a month before the competitions kick off in Nassau.

Athletics Kenya (AK) was counting on the outcome of the Nock executive committee elections before its officials can start drafting a team that will represent Kenya at the Bahamian capital that is set to start from July 19-23.

AK President Lt. Gen. (Rtd) Jackson Tuwei said he is unsure as to whether to proceed with preparations for the international track and field competition since it is the mandate of Nock to enter athletes for Olympics and Commonwealth Games.

“Its unfortunate that we had to go through another election postponement. But since it’s a court order that have been issued we have to respect it though we were looking forward for the elections to be conducted today (Friday).

“There are a lot of events that needs to be planned for by Nock like the Youth Commonwealth Games. It would be very bad for our athletes if the missed this opportunity because some may never get the opportunity again.

“We need to know if a team has been registered or not and what are the plans because we need to considerate with the children since they also have school work,” Tuwei said.

Earlier in March, Nock through its Secretary General FK Paul had formally written to the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) to communicate the country’s withdrawal from the Games citing lack of funds.

However, Nock president Keino overruled it and stated the Committee is in talks with the Ministry of Sports, Art and Culture(MOSAC) to send a team.

Nock’s Executive elections were cancelled on Friday morning after the Kenya Taekwondo Federation served the Committee and the Center for Multi-Party Democracy of Kenya (CMD) with a court order barring the elections until Monday (8th) when the application will be heard interparte.