East, West Home is best

By Mutwiri Mutuota

Retired two-time World 800m champion Billy Konchellah has given details of how his son, Youssef Saad Kamel, had long harboured the desire to come back to his nation of birth.

Reports from foreign news agencies said Bahraini runner 25-year-old Kamel, born Gregory Konchellah, was set to ditch his adopted country.

Speaking to FeverPitch, the elder Konchellah said efforts to restore Kenyan citizenship for the World Indoor two-lap bronze medallist had been mooted to former Sports Minister, Maina Kamanda.

"I spoke to him last year (Kamanda) about it after he (Kamel) told me he was not happy in Bahrain," Konchellah said.

"However, the matter was overtaken by electioneering. I had not heard that (Kamel) had actually gone ahead to make public his intention to become a Kenyan again."

The world champion in 1987 and 1991 said that Kamel had become disillusioned after his adopted nation from 2003 continued to frustrate him.

"He is not alone. I am aware of meetings by Kenyan born Bahraini athletes who want to return here. There is no use of staying there if they are not being given what they agreed," the Transmara Athletics Kenya (AK) chairman added.

Fastest time

According to the reports, Kamel said a dispute arose over the contract he had signed when he agreed to become their citizen.

The athlete, who holds the second-fastest 800m time this year in the world behind Abubakar Kaki of Sudan, said he received irregular salaries.

"I am prepared to return home and run for Kenya at the 2009 World championships in Berlin," he told AFP.

"I always wanted him to run for Kenya but I could not make decisions for him. I respected his decision to leave but it will be good for him if he comes back," his father said.

At the same time, reports posted in Labatet, a website for Kenyan athletics quoting another news agency, GDN claimed that Kamel’s U-turn on the Gulf State came apparently as a response to a warning issued by the Bahrain Athletics Association (BAA).

The BAA said that Kamel had left his training camp in Ethiopia earlier this week without permission from them or his coach Tareq Sabt.

"We issued him the warning because of his neglect of his duties," BAA president Shaikh Talal bin Mohammed Al Khalifa told the GDN.

"If Youssef is truly serious about giving up his Bahraini citizenship, then the BAA board will also look at it seriously and take a final decision in the next few weeks," Shaikh Talal added. "He has made statements like this many times before."

Kamel’s father, however, told FeverPitch that his son was still in Ethiopia and would return home in time for Christmas festivities.

Meanwhile, AK said they will receive Kamel’s return as long as all requirements for citizenship change of international body IAAF were met.

"Just like we welcomed Leonard Mucheru from Bahrain, we will also accept Kamel and do everything to help him compete for his country of birth," AK Relations Officer, Peter Angwenyi, told FeverPitch.

Mucheru was a citizen of the oil rich Gulf State from 2004 until last year when he reverted back to his nation of birth.

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