NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 8 – The Kenya Canoe team hopes of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympic Games hit a snag after the squad of three athletes were denied boarding passes to depart for Spain Saturday night.
The team consisting of Samwel Muturi, Levias karanja and Daniel Chomba was destined for Barcelona, Spain, but it was stopped to board their scheduled flight by KLM Airline, from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport despite having visas.
The Team’s sponsors, the International Canoe Federation (ICF) had procured airfare tickets for the four including the Head Coach, from the airline for the scheduled plans to have the team camp in Barcelona ahead of their African Slalom Canoe Olympics Qualifiers to be held March 20-21 at Seu D’Urgell, Spain.
The reason given for the denial of boarding was that the visas issued by the Spanish Embassy for purpose of the travel could not allow the Team to transit through Amsterdam (a Schengen area) which was the flight route to Barcelona.
“Of course, there are no direct flight from Nairobi to Barcelona. We are disappointed, that after all, the visas were issued on the strength of among other documents the travel itinerary and tickets which indicated clearly the flight route. With the quagmire at the airport, ICF officials promptly established contact with the Airline’s front desk with view to find immediate solution but the efforts bore no fruits,” a statement from the Kenya Rowing and Canoe Federation (KRCF) read.
It added, “Further both the ICF and KRCF looked for an alternative flight that would have taken the Team before day break of the same night, but none could be found; it was intended that the Team reaches Barcelona before midnight of 7th March 2021 and all available flights at the time, would reach Barcelona past the stated time.”
“The background of the set up timelines, is that it was calculated that the Team beat COVID-19 Protocols requiring that travelers from 10 countries among them Kenya, who was scheduled to enter Spain as from 8th of March, should take ten days quarantine, before being allowed interactions with public, on Spanish soil.”
Following the development, the ICF had to cancel all sponsorship for the Kenyan Team on estimation that a travel of the Team that shall be tied to the quarantine regulations shall only serve as a burden and deny the Team the much needed training before the competition.
“We thus feel sorry and console our Team for such disturbing experiences, as we regret this particular happening of 6th March 2021, where we question disconnect between the visa issued and the travel route requirements –which is purely a responsibility of the visa granting embassy. In this case, and in the event the Team completely fails to explore its Olympic dream (since we are still hopeful of travelling), we believe the ICF and obviously KRCF may have to take issues with the Spanish Embassy for the malfeasance.”
“In the meantime, we ask for calmness from our Team to allow ongoing conversations featuring our National Olympic Committee of Kenya and Government, intended to find a solution,” the statement concluded.
