The 12th African Games ended in Rabat on Saturday, with Kenya harvesting 31 medals — 11 gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze — to finish seventh overall.
Egypt once again topped with 271 medals, followed by Nigeria, with 126, and third was South Africa (87).
Of Kenya’s haul, 20 medals came from the track and field events, coming second to Nigeria.
It was our best ever show in athletics in 28 years since the 1991 Cairo Games, where Kenya finished second behind Nigeria with 29 medals — 12 gold, 10 silver and seven bronze.
The only other discipline to earn Kenya gold was the national women’s volleyball team, who retained their title after defeating Cameroon.
Boxing yielded five medals — one silver and four bronze — was their best-ever show since the 2007 Algiers Games.
The taekwondo team took silver and bronze in women’s events, while swimming and mountain bike brought one bronze medal also by women.
We congratulate Team Kenya for the splendid and inspiring display and it can only get better with good preparations.
Venice Kerubo’s win in 400m hurdles — the first by a Kenyan woman at continental level — was particularly exciting. For the men, Nicholas Bett (he died last year) won the World 400m hurdles title in 2015.
Bronze medals by women’s 4x100m team, swimming relay, and Nancy Akinyi in the Mountain Bike Cross Country are clear indications that our sportsmen and women can excel if given adequate support.
However, the country needs to diversify, as there’s great potential for harvesting medals in other sports away from athletics.
The boxing team has shown signs that it can regain its lost glory.
However, the Sports ministry and the management must pull up their socks.
The team in Rabat had not received their local and overseas allowances but put this behind them to get the results. However, these challenges must now be ironed out.
Credit: Source link