Kenya names officials to manage team at CWG

The head of Kenya's national Olympic movement has named officials to manage the country's contingent at the 2018 Commonwealth Games to be held in Gold Coast, Australia.

The President of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) Paul Tergat on Friday named the chief of Athletics Kenya (AK) Jackson Tuwei as Chef De Mission for the Games slated for April 2018, reports Xinhua news agency.

Tuwei will lead a team that has traditionally been dominated by athletics during international competitions and which the country also relies on for medals.

"The new team found an office with immense backlog of undone tasks and procedures, including the country's non-preparedness to the Club Games where we are lagging behind timelines," the former world marathon record holder said during a media briefing in Nairobi.

Tuwei will be deputized by Commissioner for Sports, Maina Kamau, whereas the general team manager will be NOCK First Vice-President, Shadrack Maluki, who also heads the Kenya Judo Association.

The Commonwealth Games will be held between April 4-15 where over 6,600 athletes and team officials from over 70 countries and regions are expected to converge for the 11-day sporting extravaganza.

Kenya finished in ninth position during the last edition held in 2014 in Glasgow, Scotland with a tally of 10 gold medals, 10 silver medals and five bronze medals.

This will be the first international assignment for the team that came into office on September 29 to replace the outgoing officials who were accused of mismanaging the team to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

All the members of the executive committee were voted out of office except for Francis Kinyili Paul who retained his position as secretary general.

--IANS

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