Government pledges to aid rocking Roll Ball teams

The Ministry of Sports, Culture and the Arts has stepped in at the 11th hour to bail out the national Roll Ball teams that were in danger of missing out on the World Cup for lack of funds.

Faced with an embarrassing exit from the competition, members of the team laid siege at the Moi International Sports Complex, Kasarani where top ministry officials were attending an IAAF Nairobi 2017 World Under 18 meeting on Friday seeking audience with them to salvage their trip to Bangladesh.

It followed startling revelations that the Government had told them there was no money to send them out to the event where the women’s team are the defending world champions with their men’s counterparts ranked fourth internationally.

When he stepped out to address the aggrieved teams, the Director of Administration at the ministry, Haron Komen made a verbal commitment they would provide the ten extra tickets needed to send the squad to Asia to the global event expected to assemble over 700 players from 45 countries.

On Thursday evening, the team’s officials were reportedly forewarned of the impending possibility of failing to make the trip to Dhaka when the ministry claimed it had no money.

As the news filtered to the players at their non-residential camp at Kasarani, they immediately halted their morning training session as they demanded clarity over the issue from Sports Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Hassan Wario.

Wario was however, not at the World Under 18 meeting with the Kenya Roll Ball Federation (KRBF) Secretary General, Yusuf Kipkoech saying his ministry had committed to provide only Ksh1m to be shared equally among the national Bowling and Roll Ball teams.

The International Roll Ball Federation (IRBF) had earlier specified it will only cater for 14 players (seven from the men’s team and the same number from the women’s) leaving 10 substitute players needed to complete the team facing an anxious wait.

“Ksh500,000 is not enough for the expenses of 10 players participating at a World Championship. Kipkoech was sent to tell us yesterday that there won’t be enough money for the team and the news has really demoralised them.

“The mood at the camp was high before we got that message. They don’t know what to do because they haven’t even trained today,” coach Jared Tobias Onyango lamented when speaking to Citizen Digital.

“I’ve done my part which is to ensure the team is in good shape and the rest is up to the authorities to facilitate our travel and accommodation. The Government should come in right now before it’s too late. This is the national team so it does not belong to me or any other individual,” he charged.

The team had until Thursday been denied access to the Indoor Arena and have been forced to train at a parking space in Gate and bereft of basic training gear while cooking for themselves within the precincts of the facility due to lack of money to use the hostel facilities available at the complex.

The men’s team Captain Kelvin Amito complained they have had little time to acquaint themselves with the recommended indoor environment.

“We can’t play without a helmet or knee and hand protections and all these are quite expensive. Every now and then, we have had to dig deep into our pockets to get these things and that has been such a challenge.

“Players in other countries have been given full support by their governments, training under the recommended standards so we won’t compete at the same level,” Amito warned.

“That’s demotivating,” he added.

KRBF President Samuel Litaba who met Komen  over the issue is optimistic the Government would honour their promise while revealing they were set for further talks on Monday to seek additional funding.

Along with the 24 players, Kenya plans to take four officials – two coaches, Litaba and their Team Manager.

The men’s team, who also are the continental and regional champions, is coached by Jared Onyango while the women’s side, the reigning champions is coached by Jacob Nyaudo.

Both sides earned their East Africa titles in 2014 when the regional tournament was held in Rwanda before successfully defending the titles a year later in Kenya.

They became continental champions last year in Uganda before the teams proceeded for World Cup in India where the women’s team won with the men’s finishing fourth.