Athletics Kenya pay costs of athletes to return home

Athletics Kenya (AK) have paid quarantine expenses and transport costs for five athletes returning from abroad, according to reports.

Daily Nation reports Abigael Cherop, Gladi Kiptoo and Paul Eyanae returned from Malaysia and Daniel Kimeli and John Kipkorir from India.

Athletics Kenya president Jackson Tuwei said he was pleased to help his athletes.

“They were all quarantined and we managed to pay for their bills. Luckily enough, they didn’t have the disease. Most didn’t even have transport back home and we assisted,” Tuwei told Daily Nation.

Tuwei said there are more athletes AK is working on helping to return home.

“There is one in Kathmandu, India where he went for a marathon race in 2016 but never returned. I spoke to another athlete in Malaysia but we are doing the best we can to ascertain the number and help out,” said Tuwei.

“We have a few in Malaysia and more than one in India.”

AK have also attempted to supplement the income of their athletes, who have been without a means to earn a living due to the fight against the spread of the novel coronavirus and lockdown regulations.

Tuwei said the 900 000 US dollars amount will go to those most in need.

“We thank the government for giving the entertainment industry Sh100 million (900 000 US dollars) to cushion them from the effects of this virus. Every sector needs help and we thank the Sports Ministry for coming up with such an initiative for sportspeople,” Tuwei told Nation Sport.

“As Athletics Kenya, we have sent a list of vulnerable athletes to the ministry for consideration. Every federation has submitted a list of sportspeople through their respective liaison officers. Not everybody will get the relief fund, so those who get the funds and those who do not should understand,” said Tuwei.

Kenya was due to host the World Athletics Continental Tour in Nairobi in May before that was postponed. That postponement would have come as a blow for athletes ahead of the new season, whenever that begins.

The Under-20 World Athletics Championships were also due to be held in Kenya in July, but the event was also postponed – with no future date scheduled yet.

Many Kenyan athletes have also been forced to halt their training programmes completely with government restrictions in place, and preparing for the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics in 2021 could prove problematic for vast numbers of Olympic hopefuls.

In partnership with ANA and Sports Leo