NAIROBI, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Over 25 countries are expected to converge in Nairobi for this year's Africa Deaf Athletics championship, which will run from Sept. 16 to 22.
It will be the first time that Kenya will be staging the competition, aiming to get the stadium full to capacity and recreate the noise to reverberate through the participants' veins.
Among the nations expected include South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia and neighbors Rwanda and Uganda. The weeklong competition has a budget of 150 million shillings (1.5 million U.S. dollars).
Sports Ministry Principal Secretary Kiremi Kaberia said the government will foot half the bill with the remaining coming from the corporate sector. The country will also give a waiver on visa to the foreign athletes.
"We have received the organization plan and we can confirm that they have the greenlight to stage the competition. Kenya government will offer 800,000 dollars for the organization of the event. I hope the sponsors will come in and help us bridge the gap and hold the best competition so far," Kaberia said in Nairobi Tuesday.
Kenya was awarded the rights to host the event due to their dominance in the World Deaf Championships. The sport is yet to gain more participants in Africa, but the organizers hope it will have a higher number of athletes this time round.
Meanwhile, Kenya team that ruled the roost the Deaflympics Games in Turkey 2017 has asked the Kenya government to offset their allowances.
The squad that comprised of 90 members including 62 athletes were supposed to receive 80,000 dollars from the government but is yet to get the cash two years since the competition. Kenya finished 8th overall in the games after scooping 16 medals.
