Heavyweight Korir throws weight behind Tergat

The 2012 Boston Marathon Champion Wesley Korir has finally broken his silence throwing his weight behind Paul Tergat and his team ahead of the National Olympics of Kenya (Nock) elections slated for Friday.

In an exclusive interview with Citizen Digital, the former Cherangany Member of Parliament expressed his support for the former 10,000m World record holder, Paul Tergat, who is vying for Nock’s presidency.

Korir at the same time said that should Tergat succeed in his quest, he should embrace a different approach in management, by appointing veteran sportsmen to his team so as to help him in running the sport.

“I support Paul Tergat and his team and would like to urge him that when elected he should look for retired sportsmen in various sports disciplines to surround him so that they can help him uplift sports in Kenya,” Korir who is also a two-time Los Angeles Marathon Champion, said.

Wrangles

According to Korir, the wrangles being witnessed in Nock has been caused by some of the seasoned leaders who are unwilling to retire.

“ The genesis of the problems in Nock is basically from some of the leaders there who do not want to hand over power to others, but this has not affected us as athletes because we only wake up early in the morning and head for training,” Korir.

Having lost his parliamentary seat, Korir is now concentrating fully in athletics as he eyes next year’s Boston Marathon. He however aims to participate in at least one race before the end of this year.

“My involvement in politics in the last five years affected my progress in athletics but I have now fully embarked on training as I target to participate in one marathon; either in November or December before next year’s Boston Marathon,” Korir said.

Korir has not participated in a major marathon event since the 2016 Rio Olympics in Brazil where he did not finish the race, in which compatriot Eliud Kipchoge went on to win.

Meanwhile, a showdown is looming as Nock prepares for Friday’s Elective General Assembly.

Bonafide

The bona-fide list of candidates for election is yet to be known as Nock Executive Committee fronted a contrasting line up with that provided by the CMD-Kenya, the agency which will oversee the election.

Contravention 

Nock has included an extra five names in contravention to CMD’s list of recognised candidates with the embattled national body issuing stern warning against the electoral body not to ‘overstep’ it’s mandate of conducting elections.

Patrick Muyah (candidate for President), Ben Ekumbo(1st Deputy President), James Chacha (Dep. Sec Gen) , Stephen Soi (Deputy Treasurer) and Winnie Kamau (Committee Member) are the additional five candidates on Nock’s list .

Further, Nock maintains 20 affiliate federations will be allowed to vote on Friday and left no room for further consultation  having engaged stakeholders during its September 5, Extraordinary General Assembly.

Sanctions

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) gave September as the deadline for fresh elections following the May 5 aborted elections and the country is likely to attract sanctions from the governing body should the polls fail to be held on Friday.

Additional reporting by Gilbert Kiprotich