Kenya shift focus to Club Games, determined to leave a mark in Birmingham

Athletics
By Edward Buri | Jul 27, 2022
Team Kenya boxer Nick Okoth (R) is taken through his paces by coach David Munuhe on July 26, 2022 at National Exhibition Centre in West Midlands Birmingham in United Kingdom ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games between Thursday, 28 Jul 2022 - Mon, 8 Aug 2022 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. (Kelly Ayodi, Standard)

It's all systems as the last contingent of the Kenyan team left for the United Kingdom yesterday ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games that start tomorrow to August 8 in Birmingham.

Kenya will be seeking to improve on the 2018 outing in Gold Coast, Australia, where the country picked 17 medals, four gold, 7 silver and six bronze medals.

Sixteen medals came from athletics and a single medal (bronze) from boxer Christine Ongare in the women's 50kg category and finished fourteenth place on the overall table.

The teams already in Birmingham include hockey, lawn bowls, triathlon, judo, wheelchair basketball, 3x3 basketball, boxing, table tennis, badminton, wrestling, swimming, beach volleyball, para-Athletics, athletics, para-powerlifting, cycling, para-cycling and rugby. Kenya will be represented by 127 athletes.

Kenya women's hockey captain Gilly Okumu winks at the camera during a training session at the Sikh Union Club in Nairobi on July 19, 2022 ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games between Thursday, 28 Jul 2022 - Mon, 8 Aug 2022 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. (Kelly Ayodi, Standard)

The last batch of the members of Team Kenya including athletics, rugby, wrestling, wheelchair basketball left the country yesterday.

The delegation to Birmingham headed by Chef de Mission John Ogolla and Kenya's squad Chief Executive Officer Humphrey Kayange alongside the Para athletics team arrived for the games on July 17.

"We are very excited to receive our teams streaming into the various Village Camps of the Games," said Ogolla.
According to Ogolla, Team Kenya will be staying in three villages; Birmingham University, Warwick and NEC Hilton Hotel.

Kenya sprinter Wiseman Were stretches out during a training session at the MISC, Kasarani on July 19, 2022 ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games between Thursday, 28 Jul 2022 - Mon, 8 Aug 2022 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. (Kelly Ayodi, Standard)

"They will be residing, training and competing for the rest of the duration of the Games. All of us have had good travel to this place despite the huge numbers arriving from various parts of the Commonwealth. The logistical plans we put in place have worked very well so far," he said.

Kenyan team is mostly composed of athletes who were on duty at the just concluded World Athletics Championships in Oregon, the United States.

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