Cast sports net wider

Kenya was in the sporting news once again at the weekend when promising rider Chris Froome won the seventh stage of the Tour de France, the world’s toughest and most prestigious cycling race.

Froome, born in Kenya but competing for Great Britain, dominated Saturday’s 199-kilometre seventh stage of the gruelling Tour.

The 26-year-old rider launched his cycling career in Kenya, winning the country a bronze at the 2007 All Africa Games in Algiers in the road race.

But he was forced to change nationality in 2008, taking up British citizenship as Kenya could not muster enough financial and logistical support to nurture his fledgling career.

Froome’s struggle to the top is a lesson to Kenya’s sports establishment that we have potential in almost all sporting disciplines, not just in distance running.

Just as the Dunford brothers, David and Jason, have proved by reaching the zenith of global swimming, our country can do equally well in the so-called “fringe” sports.

The Ministry of Sports, and National Olympic Committee of Kenya, in their annual allocations, must not overlook what we mistakenly refer to as the “minor sports”.