NAIROBI, Kenya, February 27 – The national weightlifting team to the All Africa Games in Ghana have been tipped to perform beyond expectations following meticulous preparations for many months.
The team’s coach James Omondi said they consist of the best of the best in the country and were selected through a long period of competition, which began last year.
“The preparations are good…before we started the residential training camp on Tuesday, we were already preparing for these championships. We been having busy preparations from last year through different championships in which we participated. The boys are going to do well…as well as the girls,” Omondi said.
Kenya’s appearance at the last edition of the All Africa Games in 2019 in Rabat, Morocco was a forgettable one from which they returned home empty-handed.
Omondi says it was a sobering experience that compelled them to retreat to the drawing board to draw up a plan to redeem the sport.
“For a better performance this time round, we have a totally different team. When we came back from the previous AAG (All African Games), the federation strategised and we saw where our weaknesses were/are. We started building a new team…a different team and a young one. We are very sure they are going to do well this time round,” the coach explained.
The team of four includes two males and two females – Joshua Amunga (61kg category), Franklin Omondi (73kg), Esther Kavesa (45kg) and Juliana Anyango (81kg).
With the rising costs of living across the country, Omondi notes weighlifters across the country have not been left behind, pointing to the importance of a balanced diet to moulding the ultimate athlete.
“The cost of living has affected the weighlifters so much because you are supposed to have six meals but now, maybe, they have to cut it down to three…sometimes two. But we are surviving,” Omondi said.
He also expressed his relief that his charges have overcome the challenge of balancing between books and lifting weight.
“The time they were having preparations…they had to balance between school and training. Now that most of them are done with school, their focus has come back to training,” he said.
The quartet are expected to fly out of Kenya in the coming week ahead of the opening ceremony for the continental games on March 8 in the Ghanaian capital.
