Team Kenya off to CGames as govt honours pledge

The first batch of Team Kenya to Gold Coast will leave the country on Friday, four days ahead of the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony at the Australian city.

Subsequent groups will follow on Saturday and Sunday before the Marathon Team links up with the rest in Queensland on April 8.

Officials said Thursday the Government has already remitted moneys owed to athletes following President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive during Tuesday’s flag-hand-over ceremony at State House.

Athletics powerhouse Kenya will be competing against a total of 70 nations and territories that will gather in Queensland – from the tiny South Pacific island of Niue to the world’s largest democratic country, India.

Kenya has over the years racked up a total 220 medals at the quadrennial Games with the figure ranking them eighth on the all-time medal table which is topped by this edition’s hosts Australia who have 2218.

Mostly of those Kenyan medals have been from athletics and boxing, with thirty-four coming from a single event, the 3000 metre steeplechase, an event in which no athlete but a Kenyan has won a medal since 1994.