Team Kenya will now be forced to look for an alternative training base after Kurume City withdrew from hosting the team for the Tokyo Olympics pre-Games camp.
The first batch of Team Kenya was due to leave the country on July 7 ahead of the Games that will be held from July 23 to August 8 in the Japanese capital.
In a communique to the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) on Madaraka Day, Kurume City disclosed that Covid-19 infections had rapidly spread in the city since mid-April and the situation is now critical.
NOC-K secretary general Francis Mutuku on Wednesday indicated that the number of positive cases per 100,000 people had risen more than the numbers recorded in Tokyo and Osaka.
“In addition, the nationwide spread of infection did not subside even in May, and in Fukuoka Prefecture the number of new infections and the number of hospitalised patients both have reached a record high,” said the communique.
The communique stated that the sports facilities that were scheduled to be used for the pre-Games training camps are being utilised as vaccination venues.
Mutuku said Kenya had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Kurume City, who were to host Team Kenya for 12 days.
“It entailed under full sponsorship for their stay, including accommodation, local travel in Japan, training venues and meals for the entire delegation,’ said Mutuku.
All qualified teams except athletics’ middle and long distance runners and swimmers were scheduled to travel starting July 7 for the pre-Games camp to acclimatise.
Men and women’s rugby sevens teams, Shujaa and Lionesses, national women’s volleyball team, Malkia strikers, and the national boxing team, Hit Squad, would have been the first to leave.
Mutuku said Kenya is making alternative arrangements for the team to prepare adequately.
“Consultations have started with the technical benches of the qualified teams, to re-work the activity schedules of the teams to achieve the best results under the current circumstances.”
