Blow for Team Kenya as Kurume City pulls out of hosting side for pre-Olympics training camp
Edwin Otieno
Team Kenya today received a blow as they prepare for the Tokyo Olympic Games after Kurume City has pulled out of hosting the side for the Tokyo Olympics Pre-Games Training Camp.
The camp was meant to help members of the Kenyan team to acclimatize and intensify their training before the Games begin.
The communique received by Olympics Kenya on Tuesday from the City officials read: “Covid-19 infections have rapidly spread in Kurume since mid-April and the situation has been recognized as critical.
For instance, on some days the number of positive cases per 100,000 people has risen to several times the number in Tokyo and Osaka.
In addition, the nationwide spread of infection did not subside even in May, and in Fukuoka Prefecture the number of new infections and the number of hospitalized patients both have reached a record high.”
Kurume further communicated that the sports facilities that were scheduled to be used for the pre-Games training camps are being utilized as vaccination venues.
Kenya had last year signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with Kurume City, who were to host Team Kenya for 12 days, under full sponsorship for their stay, including accommodation, local travel in Japan, training venues and meals for the entire delegation.
“All qualified teams apart from athletics middle & long distance athletes and swimming, were scheduled to travel from July 7 for the pre-Games camp to acclimatize ahead of the Games,” said Nock Secretary General Francis Mutuku.
He added: “Kenya is therefore making alternative arrangements for the team to prepare adequately, and in consideration of the period of stay guidelines from the organisers.
Consultations have started with the technical benches of the qualified teams, to re-work the activity schedules of the teams to achieve the best results under the current circumstances.”
