Nock’s appeal: Olympic body needs Sh150m to send teams to three major competitions

BY DENNIS OKEYO

The National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) requires Sh150 million to fund the participation of Kenyan teams in forthcoming international events.

The events include the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in Scotland, second African Youth Games in Gaborone and Youth Olympic Games to be staged in Nanjing, China.

The Commonwealth Games are scheduled to start on July 23, African Youth Games takes place in May, while the Youth Olympics will be held in Nanjing, China in August.

NOCK Marketing and Fundraising Committee has identified and initiated avenues to raise money to support the events.

The first fundraiser is the golf tournament with Olympians to be held at Royal Nairobi Club on April 25. Ndung’u Gathenji, the chairman of the Fundraising Committee, said they expect to raise Sh2.5 million through the tournament.

“Golfers and any person wishing to support us raise the cash can buy participating cards at golf clubs across the country,” said Gathenji.

Gathenji disclosed that the committee has plans to roll out raffles and SMS services to support their fundraising efforts next month.

NOCK treasurer, Fridah Shiroya, confirmed that Toyota Kenya have come on board as the main sponsor of the tournament and have donated Sh300,000 towards the event.

“We have Toyota as the gold sponsor of the tournament and now we are looking for other corporates to come on board as silver and bronze sponsors,” said Shiroya during the committee meeting at NOCK Headquarters in Nairobi yesterday.

She said SuperSport have indicated interest in being platinum sponsors for the event.

Meanwhile, NOCK Chairman Kipchoge Keino has urged federations to prepare teams for the African Youth Olympics in Gaberone. A total of 17 disciplines will be featured in the Games.

He said this will be the foundation for the Rio Olympic Games.

He also said all Kenyan teams for the Rio 2016 Olympics will be in one camp.

Kipchoge said only the national rugby sevens team have so far qualified for the Youth Olympics.

“The rugby sevens team qualified for the Olympics through the numerous matches they have played across the continent,” Kipchoge said.

Kipchoge asked other sports bodies to enter their respective teams in the qualification tournaments to gain entry to the Olympics.

“We are keen to enter strong teams for the three major competitions coming shortly and I am appealing to federations to conduct fair and open selection to enter strong athletes,” said Keino.

Keino, who was scheduled to leave for London last evening to attend the Flora London Marathon, said if strong athletes are identified now for the age group competitions, then Kenya can rest assured it will field strong representation in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

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