World Athletics Under-20 Championship hosting in Kenya still on track

World Athletics U20 champs in Kenya on track

JOHANNESBURG, May 10 (ANA) – Despite growing Covid-19 concerns and the ability of African nations to host major sporting events, the Local Organising Committee in Kenya insist the country will be ready to hold the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Nairobi, in August.

The event will be held at the Moi International Sports Centre (MISC), in Kasarani, from August 17-22.

LOC chairman Mike Rabar revealed Kenya had representatives at the World Relay Championships in Silesia, Poland, at the beginning of May to see how top events are currently being handled in adherence to Covid-19 safety protocols.

Rabar said: “They (the medics) were there a few days earlier (than Team Kenya) as part of an observer program to understand the different protocols required to deal with athletes, technical officials, and fans.

“They went through the process to set up Covid-19 centres and the bubble programs. These lessons have been shared with the different directorates under the organising committee.”

In fact, the LOC are in the fortunate position that the Tokyo Olympics and World Rally Championships Safari Rally in Kenya take place before the Under-20 World Championships.

Rabar says he hopes to learn from those two events as well.

“We are lucky to be hosting the Safari Rally in June and then Team Kenya heads to Tokyo for the Olympic Games.

“The fact that both events will happen before the Under-20 gives us an opportunity to learn from them in terms of organising. We will be sending a team to Tokyo to learn from the biggest global event and apply the lessons to our case.” – African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Michael Sherman