World Athletics gives Kenya thumbs up to stage World Under-20 C'ships
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E-mail Xinhua, February 18, 2020
NAIROBI, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- World Athletics on Tuesday lauded Kenya for progress in the organization of the World Under-20 Championships in July.
James Lord, director of broadcasting at World Athletics, said that despite some areas still lugging behind, the country was much ahead in the process and has no doubt Nairobi will be ready for the championships, which will run from July 7-12.
Lord, who led the 19-member World Athletics team in inspecting the venue, hotel, technical suppliers, media, broadcast and athletes' village, said they are convinced with the report they have received and what they saw on the ground.
"Our inspection team has attained its objectives. It was really fantastic and a lot of things have been done. Nairobi will be ready," Lord said on Tuesday in Nairobi.
Nairobi will also have a chance to host a dry run on May 2 when the city hosts the inaugural round of the World Athletics Continental Tour, a one-day championship bringing together elite track and field stars across the globe.
"The Continental Tour will offer a real test to some of the important facilities. But the aspect of us coming together as a team was really important and we can now look forward to a great event. It's good that we are all reading from the same page with the event only four months away," said Lord.
It was the third inspection done by World Athletics since granting Nairobi the host right in its council meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina back in 2017. The team was in Nairobi from the Feb. 11-13.
Kenya's Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed assured the World Athletics delegation that the country was serious on hosting international sports competition and will under no circumstance do everything to make Nairobi ready to host the World U-20 Championships.
"There should be no cause for alarm on the areas that we seem to be lagging behind. We reworked the Nyayo Stadium in seven days in preparation for the late President Moi's funeral service and this is testament to what we are capable of despite limited time," said Amina.
China, Germany, Bahrain, Qatar, Uganda and Azerbaijan have made their intention known to pitch training camp in Eldoret ahead of the championships. Enditem
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