Muriu hopes to follow in dad’s footsteps in Morocco
Amid the hue and cry over the reduced number of Tae-Kwon-Do players set to travel to Morocco for the African Games, 23-year-old Mary Muriu is glad to have made the cut and is driven by the desire to step into the footsteps of her late father George Muriu.
The featherweight player is among 12 athletes that were selected by the Tae-Kwon-Do Federation (KTF) for the games that get underway on August 19 in Rabat, Morocco.
A technical knockout delivered to her, when she joined the sport 15 years ago, made her vow to work hard to avoid a repeat of the same.
“I feel blessed to be returning to the games once again having debuted in Maputo, eight years ago,” Mary told People Sport.
“I want to work hard not only for myself but to also carry on the legacy of my late father,” said Mary of her dad who passed on in 2012, a year after serving as head coach for Team Kenya in Maputo.
Having missed the 2015 edition of the games in Congo Brazzaville owing to wrangles within KTF, she wants to make good use of her opportunity this time.
“In Congo, the country made a mockery of itself by having two warring factions sending parallel teams to the games. It does not get more embarrassing than that. I do not for once regret staying out of the games,” she recalls.
“In 2011, something did not go right in my final match that contributed to me missing out on medals.
Had I won that match, maybe I could have gone all the way to the finals, but then again I was young. I have become better with age,” added Mary.
