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Juniors in early preps for Africa under 20/18

Preparations to defend the Confederation of Africa Athletics (CAA) under 20 title has started in earnest for Kenyan junior athletes.

With the under 20 and under 18 championships set for April in Lusaka, Zambia, Athletics Kenya Youth Committee chairman Barnabas Korir said that they are working hard to ensure that the country defends the under 20 and win the under 18 that was won by South Africa four years ago in Ivory Coast.

Speaking during the official training camp closure on Sunday at the Complete Sports training camp in Uasin Gishu County, Korir said that the main reason for such camps is to ensure that the country performs well.

“These camps have been set up ahead of this year,s Africa under 18 and under 20 but before that we have had several camps for the last two years and we realized that it is very important to have these camps because that is how we nature talents and get an opportunity to scout for new athletes,” said Korir.

He added that the government has been good at supporting athletes especially during preparation periods.

“We have had discussions with the cabinet secretary for sports Ababu Namwamba to support young talents, the same way he is doing in football to give opportunities to young and upcoming athletes. We hope that the government will offer more resources to have the continuity of the camps every year for the smooth transition from juniors to seniors,” he said.

He said that this time they had a few training camps Complete Sports in Uasin Gishu, Kapkoimur in Nandi and another in Kericho compared to last year’s 24 camps spread across the country specifically for the world under 20 championships in Cali, Colombia and 2021 world under 20 championships in Nairobi.

“These athletes who have been in camp will proceed to schools once the schools open and ensure that we follow them up especially for the sprinters and field events to ensure that we present an athlete in every event and ensure that we enter in many competitions and we shall select the team for April championships,” he said.

He added that as a federation, is to ensure that they select a strong team for the Lusaka championships.

“In the last under 18 and under 20, we won the under 20 title and South Africa won the under 20, so we want to defend our title. I have seen Ethiopia has the largest number of entries in Ivory Coast and I am sure that they are preparing well for the Lusaka show so we have to be careful on how we nurture our athletes so that we cannot be caught by surprise from teams like Nigeria, South Africa to give us challenge,” he said.

He added that the National Olympics Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) also has a camp for juniors and that has given them an opportunity to increase the numbers of junior athletes ready for competition.

“We shall also be sending eight athletes to Miramas, France to train there and have some competitions,” he said.

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