IAAF has cleared Kenya and the US to proceed with the bidding process after accepting their applications in March and will now have until September 25 to submit the bidding document/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 15 – Kenya’s bid to host the 2017 World Youth Championships in Nairobi was put on course after Athletics Kenya (AK) constituted a 12 member committee that will be chaired by the federation’s vice president in charge of Youth development, Retired Lt. Gen. Jackson Tuwei.
IAAF has cleared Kenya and the US to proceed with the bidding process after accepting their applications in March and will now have until September 25 to submit the bidding document.
Speaking on Friday when unveiling the team at Riadha House, AK boss Isaiah Kiplagat said Kenya had high chances of winning the bid after Argentina withdrew, leaving only America in the race.
“We are looking forward to winning this bid because as we speak Argentina has withdrawn leaving only USA as our only competitor. We are going to Monaco with a strong document that will be successive for us to be granted the hosting rights for the event in 2017,” Kiplagat declared.
He assured that both national and Nairobi County Governments are in support of the bid since there is a lot to work including purchasing of youth equipment to convince IAAF to award them the rights.
“The committee will start working immediately to ensure the document is ready once the Ministry of Sports signs the event agreement document to show their financial guarantee and assurance that the event will be funded by both governments,” the AK chief assured.
He added, “There will be a lot of requirements to prove we can host the event and with that, we will have to purchase Youth equipment and refurbish Nyayo National Stadium that we have proposed as the hosting venue as well as constructing a warm up track.”
The committee that involves all stakeholders will start bid documentation that has to be handed to the IAAF Council with the final decision taking place in November during the World Athletics Gala in Monaco.
This will be the third time AK will be looking to host a major championship after successfully staging the 2007 IAAF World Cross Championships in Mombasa and 2010 CAA Africa Senior Championships in Athletics in Nairobi.
The biennial global showpiece is open to athletes aged 17 or younger and has produced athletes who end up becoming stars such as double Olympics and Worlds sprint champion, Usain Bolt of Jamaica, 2011 double World champion, Vivian Cheruiyot and recently graduated 1,500 champion, Faith Chepng’etich among others.
The event first ran in 1999 in Bydgoszcz, Poland while the 2015 event will be staged in Cali, Colombia with Donetsk, Ukraine hosting the latest running last year.
Committee members appointed:
Chairman: Retired Lt. Gen Jack Tuwei (AK vice president)
Members: David Okeyo (AK vice president), Isaac Mwangi (AK CEO), Fatma Awale (AK vice president), Wilberforce Chebet (Sports Stadia Management Board) Faizal Lasker (KICC/Ministry of Tourism), Kihara Ndung’u (Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government), Evans Kinyanjui (Department of Immigration), Christopher Khaemba (Nairobi County Government), Gordon Oluoch (Commissioner for Sports), Patrick Omutie (Sports PS) and the newly appointed AK marketing consultants.
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