PM Modi to Uhuru: Coach our athletes, we train your cricketers

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has cited sport as an area where Kenya and his country could cooperate during bilateral talks with President Uhuru Kenyatta in New Delhi on Wednesday.

In recognition of Kenya’s position as a global super power in track and field, Modi suggested Indian athletes could be coached here as his nation trains the former in cricket.

“Kenya produces good athletes while India prides itself in being a global cricket powerhouse,” Prime Minister Modi said.

Kenya topped the African charts and finished second globally in track and field at the 2016 Rio 2016 Olympics while India are two-time ICC World Cup winners, the latest coming in 2011.

The national cricket team is struggling to reclaim the glory that saw them reach the semi finals of the Cricket World Cup in 2003 with a host of Kenyans of Indian heritage having a strong presence in the team.

Ravindu Shah, Brijal Patel, Hitesh Modi and Aasif Karim were in that famous squad captained by Steve Tikolo that made the semi final.

The national cricket team announced itself to the world when they qualified for their maiden World Cup in India arrived in India with stars like Tikolo, Maurice Odumbe and Thomas Odoyo.

The team was expected to be crushed by the full One Day International (ODI) member sides in its group and this proved to be correct in most of their matches but the highlights of their campaign was beating former World Cup champions West Indies in a low scoring affair.

Following their World Cup performance, Kenya was given full ODI status by the ICC that has since been stripped, and hosted a quadrangular tournament against Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka in September and October of that year.

Kenyan athletes topped the world at the 2015 IAAF World Championships besides winning 10 gold medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi to emerge with top honours in track and field.