Confusion mars Team Kenya’s travel logistics

Confusion continues to mar Team Kenya's travelling plans for the 13th edition of the African Games in Accra, Ghana.

The event starts today and will end on March 23.

The University of Ghana will be home to the participants.

By Thursday evening, only six disciplines - table tennis, cricket, volleyball (indoor and beach), wrestling, weightlifting and swimming - were in Accra.

Even at that, whereas there is a direct flight from Kenya to Accra, which takes five hours and 40 minutes, Kenya volleyball teams (Malkia Strikers, Wafalme Stars and beach volleyball teams) who flew out of the country on Wednesday morning aboard Ethiopia Airlines, had to land in Addis Ababa then connect to Lagos, Nigeria before they landed in Ghana on Wednesday night.

The travelling schedule seen by Nation Sport shows that beach volleyball men's and women's teams and wrestling that were set to depart on Sunday left the following day while Malkia Strikers and Wafalme Stars, who were to fly out of the country, on Thursday left two days earlier.

Handball (men), who were to leave Thursday, will depart on Saturday, while chess players, who would have left the country on Sunday, are still the dark over their travel arrangements while their competition kicks off on Friday.

Judokas, whose action starts on Monday, were expected to jet out of the country Thursday night.
Kenya has entered 17 disciplines for the 21-day event.

The disciplines are table tennis (10), cycling (six), chess (three), swimming (six), volleyball (men and women-28), beach volleyball (men and women-six), wrestling (six),weightlifting (six),Judo (six),handball (men-14),boxing (six),triathlon (six),tennis(10), basketball 3x3 (women-six), rugby(14), taekwondo(six) and Athletics(52).

As per the list, only 180 athletes will fly the country's flag compared to the last edition, which had 259.

An official who is privy to the happenings said the confusion was due to government procurement procedures.

"We can't really tell which teams are traveling when and how but what we know is that some athletes will fly direct to Ghana, while some athletes will have to connect in batches," said the official.

Athletes staged a protest on Tuesday during the Athletics Kenya trials for the African Games at the Nyayo National Stadium, forcing the Kenya National Sports Council (KNSC) to increase the number of slots to the Games from 30 to 52.

In Ghana, Nation Sport understands that the organisers have scratched off hockey and badminton from the event.

This is after the renovations of facilities that were supposed to host the events failed to be completed in time for the competition.

Theodosia Okoh Hockey Stadium was to host hockey matches while Multi-purpose Hall, Borteyman New 'N' Block, University of Ghana, was to stage badminton.

Kenya men's and women's hockey teams, whose fate to participate in the event was still unknown and were still training at the City Park Hockey Stadium in Nairobi, will rest easy.

Volleyball teams, which arrived in Ghana Tuesday night, could not train due to the unavailability of indoor facilities.

They could not train in the outdoor facility allocated due to heavy downpour.

Volleyball action serves on March 12, while beach volleyball and wrestling competitions get underway on Saturday. Handball action will begin next Wednesday, Triathlon on March 14, and athletics start on March 18.

The Games were set for last year, but Ghana's financial difficulties and a dispute over marketing rights forced the organisers to push the multi-sport event to this year.

In the last edition held in Rabat, Morocco, in 2019, Kenya had a contingent of 259 (128 men and 131 women) in 20 sports.

Kenya finished seventh with 31 medals (10 gold medals,11 silver and 10 bronze).

Egypt won the overall title with 273 medals (102 gold, 98 silver and 73 bronze).