NAIROBI, Kenya Mar 10 – With major sports events postponed due to coronavirus fears, MPs have summoned Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed to appear before the Sports House Committee next Tuesday to brief them on mitigation measures the government is taking to safeguard Team Kenya from the virus during the Tokyo Games.
Committee Chairman and Machakos Town MP Victor Munyaka says the House wants to know the status of the event given recent trend where several high-profile global sports events have been called off.
“We are also going to ask about the issue bordering on the Corona virus because you can see some sporting events have been suspended.”
“And Japan having reported some cases of the outbreak, we wanted to know whether the ministry is actually in touch with the situation there Japan and the Olympics managing council so that it can be getting real and proper updates whether this thing is really taking place and whether there are mitigation programmes taking place to ensure that we will be endangering of our sportsmen and women,”.
Munyaka says the CS and NOCK should stay in contact with International Olympic Committee (IOC) to be certain of the latest developments surrounding the global event.
IOC president Thomas Bach said last week that the nightmare scenario of either cancelling or postponing this year’s Tokyo Olympics was not discussed at a key meeting.
“Neither the word cancellation nor postponement was mentioned today during the Executive Board meeting,” Bach told reporters in Lausanne.
The Olympics take place from July 24-August 9.
Already, the Kenya women’s Beach Volleyball team withdrew from the Olympic Games Qualifiers that was slated for Abuja, Nigeria after the Ministry of Sports declined to give tickets.
The Coronavirus spread has caused shockwaves across the sporting divide and lat week, Sports CS Amina said she hoped it would be handled in time to ensure Kenya hosts the Continental Tour and the World Athletics Under 20 Championships set for May and July.
The Magical Kenya Open Golf tournament is the major event to have been cancelled in the country to join the World Half Marathon, World Indoor Championships, Hong Kong and Singapore Sevens as well as China Grand Prix among many.
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