NAIROBI, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Kenya has warned foreign coaches and agents that they will lose their athletes if they fail to register with the national athletics body in January 2019.
Jack Tuwei, president of Athletics Kenya (AK), said the exercise is part of the federation's attempts to protect athletes from exploitation by unscrupulous agents, who he blamed for the rise in doping cases in the country.
"The registration of all foreign coaches is expected to commence in January. All foreign coaches residing and coaching in Kenya must prepare and present their permits in person to Athletics Kenya offices on Jan. 9, 2019 without fail," Tuwei said on Tuesday in Nairobi.
This process, he said, will enable the federation to have a register of all coaches approved and licensed to train Kenyan athletes. "Failure to present oneself for this important exercise will force the federation to work with other government agencies to have disciplinary action taken against them. Let every foreign coach take this very seriously with an aim to comply," Tuwei warned.
Kenya has had over 50 cases of positive anti-doping tests. The majority of the cases have confessed that they were helped by their coaches.
"The registration of athletes is an ongoing process and is expected to continue until all athletes are covered. No clearance is done for any athlete before being registered in the federation and allocated an athlete registration number," said Tuwei.
