NAIROBI, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Financial constraints means only 46 Kenyan athletes will go to the third Africa Youth Games, which will be held in Algiers, Algeria from July 18-27.
This has left Kenya's Chef de Mission, Humphrey Kayange bemoaning the huge challenge his team faces as they face the best in the continent in a competition that is open to athletes aged 15-18.
Kayange said on Thursday it will be difficult for the country to emulate their acheivements four years ago in Botswana, where Kenya won 25 medals. From an initial provision of 18 disciplines with a budget of over 500,000 U.S. dollars, Kenya will now only have athletes competing in five events.
"It's disappointing to take only five disciplines because these are youth games, an elementary competition, where you need to have all your sportsmen and encourage them to take up the sport. I would have loved more youth in such competitions since they are the future but there is little we can do with limited resources," Kayange said in Nairobi.
The National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) said they opted for the five disciplines because of financial constraints and that they will be using the games in Algeria for their qualifiers to the Olympic Youth Games, which will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina in October.
