Team Kenya resized ahead of Tokyo Deaflympics

Team Kenya during a training session at Kasarani. [Ochieng Oyugi, Standard] Team Kenya has officially entered a residential camp at Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi ahead of the 25th Summer Deaflympics set for Tokyo, Japan, on November 15-26. Team captains Isaac Atima and Linet Fwamba Nanjala are buoyant that the squad will surpass the 24 medals achieved in Brazil three years ago in their Tokyo exploits. "Personally, I'm focused on returning home with the elusive gold from Japan," said Nanjala who bagged silver in the Mix 4x400m Relay, Women's 4x400m Relay and bronze in the women's 400m and women's 4x400m relay in Brazil. Likewise, co-captain Isaac Atima Tongi is also raring to go in the men's 400m and 200m categories. "In Tokyo, I will be out to improve on my Brazil performance, where I won silver in the Mixed 4x400m Relay and bronze in the Men's 4x400m Relay," Tongi underlined. Meanwhile, Team Kenya officials for the Tokyo 2025 Summer Deaflympics have clarified the decision to drop seven teams from the forthcoming Tokyo Games. Initially, Kenya was set to compete in 12 disciplines, but the number has been reduced to five-athletics, swimming, women's basketball, men's handball, and golf. The teams that have been dropped are women's volleyball, women's football, cycling, tennis, table tennis, badminton, and bowling. Addressing the press at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, in Nairobi, Team Kenya Chief Executive Officer Duncan Kuria cited budget constraints as the major reason for the decision. "Initially, we had a contingent that had 12 disciplines, but we did some deliberations with the government officers in the Ministry of Sports, and we came to a decision that we had to reduce some of the teams," clarified Kuria. "It was purely a money decision, nothing to do with looking at other disciplines as smaller or maybe condemning them that they cannot bring medals," the retired Kenyan boxing legend added. In deciding which teams to drop, Kuria said the selection was based on international experience and previous performances on the global stage. "It is one of the worst jobs when you are having to disappoint so many athletes who have trained for so long trying to prepare for a top championship," the Team Kenya CEO noted. "We wanted to be represented by athletes who have international experience, maybe have competed at the Deaflympics or at the World Championships level, and also look at the performance." He said lack of African Deaf Championships had worked to the disadvantage of the teams dropped. Kuria singled out bowling as one of the teams which had shown signs of strong performance in Tokyo but had to be painfully excluded due to lack of international exposure. As for the women's football team, he noted that they were dropped because of its dismal performance in the last edition of the Deaflympics in Caxias Do Sul in Brazil in 2022. "It was not our wish that we do away with those teams. I had liked the idea of having to include some of the disciplines that were not there during the last Deaflympic Games in Brazil. To me it was a good idea to include these other teams so that they get that experience of representing the country at that top level," said Kuria. Bernard Banja, the Team Kenya Chief de Mission echoed Kuria's sentiments saying: "We are working with a lean budget because we have had a series of events like Chan and the World Cup Qualifiers. It means that funds had to be earmarked for them, and we cannot compel the government to give us resources. "We never thought of reducing the teams, it was not an easy thing. We discussed it and considered the criteria of selecting teams which have participated in the Deaflympics, World Championship and other sporting events internationally."

Team Kenya resized ahead of Tokyo Deaflympics

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