CS Amina, Kurume City pledge more support for Team Kenya
Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed addresses the press on Day One of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on July 24, 2021.
What you need to know:
- CS Amina said the Kurume camp was a game-changer in Kenya’s build-up to the Olympics and Paralympic Games.
In Tokyo
Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed Saturday met with business leaders from Kurume City who continued to offer their support for Team Kenya, pledging further assistance in their Olympic Games campaign.
Kurume City, which is in Fukuoka Prefecture (province), put together an impeccable, two-week, pre-Olympics training camp for Kenyan teams with women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s rugby along with sprinters taking full advantage.
Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed gestures during a press conference in Tokyo on Day One of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on July 24, 2021.
The Kurume business community, led by Yasuto Motomura, the Chairman of the Kurume Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said they support for Kenya is beyond sports.
“Team Kenya feels like a family, and we are happy to meet and build this friendship through culture and we shall be happy to engage further in business,” Motomura said during the meeting at Kenya’s embassy here also attended by top embassy staff led by Ambassador Tabu Irina.
“We would like to assist Team Kenya to be comfortable and we shall donate a small token to the team,” he said.
'Game-changer'
CS Amina said the Kurume camp was a game-changer in Kenya’s build-up to the Olympics and Paralympic Games.
“When we signed the agreement with Kurume, it was an important day because we knew that we had a home away from home,” she said.
“We are grateful for this friendship and we know there are many areas we can work together in, including cultural exchange.
“For instance, we can be having Kiswahili professors coming here to teach Kiswahili and Japanese professors coming to Kenya to teach Japanese.”
Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed fields questions during a press conference in Tokyo on Day One of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on July 24, 2021.
Also in the Kurume delegation at Saturday’s meeting was Koji Kitamura (Deputy Chairman of the Kurume Chamber of Commerce and Industry), Masaharu Kitajima (Chairman of the Special Committee on Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympics at the Kurume Chamber of Commerce and Industry), Kyoko Yoshihiro (Chairperson, USE Company Limited) and Eizo Anami (from the Secretariat at the Kurume Chamber of Commerce and Industry).
The Kenyan delegation included Festus Wangwe Muchanji (Head of Chancery), Khadija Issa (First Counsellor) and Naoko Yagi (Trade Assistant).
