World U-20 preps in top gear, assures Rabar

With barely 100 days to the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Nairobi, Local Organising Committee (LOC) chairman Mike Rabar says they are pulling all stops to ensure a successful event.

The much-awaited competition will take place at Moi International Sports Centre (MISC), Kasarani from August 17-22.

Nation Media Group has secured the broadcast rights for the event.

Rabar said they are keen to host a memorable event devoid of adverse incidents resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.

He said that they have since identified areas that require improvements and are learning the best practices, by having some of their members attend various international events.

As part of the plan, Rabar revealed that a group of medics were in Silesia, Poland during the just concluded World Relays Championships to borrow experience.

 “They (the medics) were there a few days earlier (than Team Kenya) as part of an observer program to understand the different protocols required to deal with athletes, technical officials, and fans,” said Rabar in a statement.

“They went through the process to set up Covid-19 centres and the bubble programs. These lessons have been shared with the different directorates under the organising committee.”

The upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympics in Japan and the World Rally Championships Safari Rally in Kenya are the other events Rabar said they hope to borrow a lot from, as far as handling matters during the current Covid-19 period.

"We are lucky to be hosting the Safari Rally in June and then Team Kenya heads to Tokyo for the Olympic Games. The fact that both events will happen before the Under-20 gives us an opportunity to learn from them in terms of organising. We will be sending a team to Tokyo to learn from the biggest global event and apply the lessons to our case," he said.

Globally, lack of fans at the stadium is one of the main challenges that sports event organisers’ are grappling with. 

Rabar said they are engaging the Ministry of Health over the possibility of admitting at least 10,000 fans at MISC for World Athletics Under-20.

“…Kasarani is a 60,000-seater, so we believe it is more than capable of accommodating this number. We need to do that for the sake of TV cameras so the whole world can see that Kenya is hosting an event of global magnitude. What we need to work on is how the fans will be entering and exiting the stadium," he said.

Athletics Kenya Saturday kicked-off the selection process of athletes to represent the country in the championships by holding the Southern Region pre-trials at Machakos Boys High School.

Leakey Kamina from Makueni and Sharon Ndanu of Machakos won their respective 5,000m races. 

Gladys Mumbe from Machakos claimed a double, posting the fastest times in both women's 400m and 200m with Makueni's Emmanuel Lemama also winning the 1,500m and 800m races.