Coach Ngisirei confident Kenya will deliver U-20 title for the umpteenth time

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 25 – National World Under-20 head coach Robert Ngisirei believes that the squad at his disposal has what it takes to dominate the medal table just as they did at the 2018 World Under 20 Championships in Tampere, Finland.

Kenya bagged 11 medals-six gold, four silver and one bronze to finish the Finland event on a high.

”I have done a couple of sessions with the team to tone their muscles

ahead of the international assignment.  I realise the team is solid given impressive times they posted during their trials,” a confident Ngisirei told Capital FM Sport on phone from Moi International Sport Centre Kasarani.

Ngisirei added that  laxity will not be an option for them as other countries will be angling for Kenya’s crown attained during the last edition in 2018 in Tampere, Finland.

“Everything is working out as planned. We are battling well in

training for all the categories in which we will be competing,

including the field events. Every race is technical including those in

which we have traditionally dominated and so we cannot rest easy in our training,” Ngisirei said.

Ngisirei, who was the coach in Cali, Colombia where Kenya won the

overall title in 2015, is optimistic that the pandemic situation will be

have eased to enable them to resume training.

Kenya won 15 medals in 2017 and Ngisirei is hopeful they will bag more medals and claim the bragging rights.

“Winning in such events, as a coach, is pure joy. You laugh all the

way home. But when you lose, there will be little to talk about as a

technical team contingent as a whole,” he said.

One of the aspects the technical bench is paying keen attention to is

speed-work for the respective  athletes.

“Our rivals, especially Uganda and Ethiopia, are no pushovers. So we

want these lads to improve on their respective times such that they

will be at the peak fitness by August when the championship begins,” Ngisirei continued.

The team is currently in a bubble in a residential training at Moi

Stadium, Kasarani during which they have to undergo regular tests and avoid contact with the outside world as much as possible.

The coach praised the youngsters for their bravery and discipline amid

a challenging period occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic, which has turned many lives upside down.

“It did not only start now but during the trials when we underwent

Covid tests on four consecutive days. The lads are not shocked by the regularity of these tests rather have become accustomed to them. Most of them say they are feeling any discomfort,” he said.

With the showpiece set to be held behind closed doors, the juniors are

set to miss out on the capacity crowd witnessed by their predecessors during the World Under-18 Championships at the same venue.

Nonetheless, Ngisirei is confident Team Kenya are prepared for this

new development and will deliver a great performance regardless of no

fans in the stadium.

“This will not be an issue for us because an athlete knows they have to bring their best game whether there will be fans or not.

Furthermore, they know that Kenyans will be glued on their television sets throughout the Championships and so they will not want to let them down,” Ngisirei said.

So far, close to 128 countries have confirmed participation in the

event, which will be held exactly a week after the Tokyo Olympics.

Last week Cabinet secretary for sports Amina Mohammed announced that there will be no fans allowed at the Moi International Sports Centre,

Kasarani in Nairobi during the World Athletics Under-20 Championships.

According to Amina  the world is undergoing tough times currently due to the coronavirus pandemic and unless the World Athletics announces otherwise, there will be no spectators.

“We are not going to allow any fan at the stadium because we are still

in the middle of a pandemic,” said Amina

She added that most of the global events are being held without

spectators including the upcoming  Olympic Games which began on Friday  in Tokyo, Japan.

“We have seen most of the events held across the country happening at empty stadiums except for countries that have vaccinated up to 50 percent of the population. The organisers, athletes and the technical team are the only people who will access the stadium and must undergo the mandatory tests,” she said.

Those who will be allowed to access the stadium will be tested on a daily basis.

She added that the country was  ready to host the global extravaganza with final touches being done at the media centre and other areas of the Stadium at Kasarani.