By John Kwoba
NAIROBI, May 15 (Xinhua) -- National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) chairman Paul Tergat wants fringe sports to focus on merit and not numbers in selecting their teams to the Africa Youth Games.
Speaking in Nairobi on Tuesdy, Tergat called upon sports like swimming, badminton, tennis and volleyball to encourage young athletes to focus on excelling in their disciplines in order to widen the country's medal haul beyond track and field.
"The Africa Youth Games is an elementary competition and we want our best girls and boys to excel through hard work in training, determination and dedication," he said.
Kenya will select a team of six players - three girls and three boys - for the badminton team to the Youth Game slated for July in Algeria.
"Let them pull up their socks and work hard in training. Victory in the games will be easy," said Tergat.
Kenya Badminton Chairman Peter Muchiri said they need to take pressure off the track and field athletes and cushion the country by spreading the winning disciplines to badminton.
"Judging from our performance at the Commonwealth Games, our two players did not advance to the medal brackets, but they gained valuable experience and believe the youth can learn from them and put in their best show in Algiers. We want to select a team in advance so they can focus on training," said Muchiri.
The official believes adequate preparations is the key to unlocking the potential of the players and allow them to start winning medals at continental and world stage.
"Unlike our preparations for the Commonwealth Games, we shall have one and a half months to polish up our skills. We have coaches who have delivered Africa continental medals before. I'm confident about our performance at Algiers," he added.
The Africa Youth Games come at a vital time and the top athletes who win medals will have a chance to compete at the Youth Olympic Games set for Oct 6-18 in Argentina. Enditem
