Nock’s counsel to federations ah**d of Tokyo 2020
National Olympics Committee of Kenya (NOCK) yesterday called on all federations to request for resources from the Sports Fund to help them prepare adequately for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
This came as NOCK revealed that 48 participants have already qualified for the Summer Games. Two swimmers, 28 athletes and the Kenya Lionesses rugby side are the ones who have already qualified for Tokyo, with the local body expecting a bigger representation this time than in Rio 2016.
Led by Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) president Waithaka Kioni who also doubles up as Nock senior vice president and Team Kenya’s Chef de Mission for the Tokyo Games, the local body urged federations wishing to take part at the Games to request funds according to their needs to help in team preparations and qualifiers.
Kioni says only discussions with the ministry would solve the current stalemate experienced in the country with a number of teams lacking funds to take part in Olympics qualifiers.
“As Nock, we settled on a standard amount to help all the federations in their aspirations to qualify for Tokyo.
As you understand the amount is too little to cater for entire qualification time. We therefore urge all the federations to request for budget allocations from the Ministry of Sports and the Sports Funds,” he said.
Kioni told the press that discussions were underway to have the ministry release funds early enough once they have been approved. He said Nock would soon make official its budget for the Games. “In future we hope money from the Sports Fund will be released within 48 hours after it has been allocated.
That way, it will be easier for planning purposes,” he added. Kioni says issues of lack of resources that affected a number of team Sport like Kenya Lionesses and women’s football side Harambee Starlets should be avoided.
In the same meeting, NOCK acting Secretary General Francis Mutuku announced that Kenya Shooting Federation boss Shoaib Vayani and athlete representative Humphrey Kayange will be the two deputy Chef de Mission.
Athletics Kenya AK Nairobi branch chairman Barnaba Korir will be the team manager at the Games and will be assisted by Winnie Kamau of the Swimming federation.
“We have also a new Secretariat headed by Susan Karanja, Tony Karuru and Susan Adhiambo who is in charge of programs.
Their work will be to make the running of NOCK better,” Mutuku said.
He at the same time defended the decision by Kenya to settle on Japan’s Kurume City as Kenya’s pre-Olympics Games Camp, adding that the deal will be made official in February, he says Kenya stands to gain a lot from it.
