Menjo among Deaflympics aces to miss out on medals

World record holder Baxton Menjo, will not defend the men 1500m title he won at the 2012 World Deaf Athletics Championships in Toronto, Canada after he missed the qualifiers that took place on Monday since the national the team was still in transit to Bulgaria.

“I am very sad that I have missed the 1500 semi finals because I was very confident I would walk away with at least a bronze medal in the event but sometimes things happen that are beyond your control,” Menjo told Citizen Digital.

Team Kenya Captain; Daniel Kiptum, triple Deaflympics champion Simon Kibai and 2012 silver medalist Peter Toroitich are some of the other high profile casualties affected by the team’s inability to get to the championships that started in time.

Kenya so far has missed the marathon, 1500 semi final, 100m heats, 400m heats and 10,000m final for men as well as the women’s 400m semi final and 10000m finals.

“We had hoped to send the athletes there in time so they could participate in some of the events scheduled for the first two days but unfortunately we couldn’t beat the deadline,” explained Bernard Banja the Deaf Athletics Association of Kenya Secretary General.

Banja was among the seven officials who could not travel to Bulgaria after the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Arts ordered them to reduce the contingent to fit its constricted budget.

Tom Okiki, DAAK Public Relations Officer told of his disappointment with the Ministry for coming to the picture when it was already too late and hoped that this would not be the case when the association sends athletes to next year’s Deaflympics in Samsun, Turkey.

“The Ministry started the whole process when it was next to impossible to make sure we could get to the championships in time and we had to approach the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to assist us with the negotiations which on its part did a marvelous job in helping us liaise with the Turkish Embassy,” he narrated.

“We are also grateful to the Turkish Embassy that went out of their way to help us acquire the Visas and specifically opened their offices to us on Saturday which isn’t their norm since they operate from Monday to Friday,” he added.

The championship bound team was originally expected to jet out between 22nd and 23rd June.

“Once we land in Bulgaria I doubt the athletes will have enough time to acclimatize especially because some of them will be expected to take to the track the next day after we land,” explained Team Physiotherapist, Patrick Johnson Manyara.

“The athletes have been demoralized because there was an air of uncertainty in the camp during the week and some of them stopped training which might end up being a deciding factor in the team’s chase for medals,” he added.

On Wednesday 29th June, the athletes are expected to open their hunt for the medals in the 1500m women’s final.

Kenya finished fourth during the last edition held in Toronto in 2012 with a total of 10 medals – (four gold, four silver and two bronze) out of the 32 participating nations.

Report by Eric Kagundah