Uhuru congratulates African Games squad

President Uhuru Kenyatta has congratulated Team Kenya for their impressive performance at the African Games in Rabat, Morocco that came to an end on Saturday.

The head-of state said in a press statement on Saturday that he has been closely following the performance of the team and that the win by Malkia Strikers in the women’s volleyball final showed the world the resilience and fighting spirit of the Kenyan people.

On Friday, Malkia Strikers won gold after seeing off arch-rivals Cameroon 3-1 in the final of women’s volleyball. The Kenyan queens rallied from behind to secure a 12-25, 25-15, 26-24, 25-21 result to successfully defend the volleyball crown they bagged in Congo Brazzaville four years ago.

“I am particularly impressed by the performance by our teams at the 12th African Games in Rabat, Morocco, “said President Uhuru.

He added: “We all saw how our volleyball queens put up a spirited fight to win gold last night. They fought hard against tough Cameroonian team to retain their titles at Africa Champions “

“Then there was our team captain in Rabat, Julius Yego who only retained his African Championship by winning gold but also ensured fellow Kenyan Alexander came second.”

Kenya finished seventh overall with 31 medals; 11 gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze medals as Egypt once again topped with 271 medals; 101 gold, 97 silver and 73 bronze followed by Nigeria with 126(46-33-47) and South Africa 87 (36, 26, 25).

Kenya struck 20 medals; 10 gold, seven silver and three bronze medals to finish second behind Nigeria after a hotly contested final day of athletics on Friday.

Boxing yielded five medals; one silver and four bronze, which was their best ever show since the 2007 Algiers Games, tae kwo-do brought two silver medals while swimming and mountain bike one bronze medal each.

Even as the team prepares to return on Tuesday, there were protests with disciplines from athletics, boxing and volleyball complaining of having received their local and oversea allowances.

Athletes are to get Sh 1,000 in local while US$ 125 (Sh 12,500) in oversea allowances daily while the officials are to pocket Sh 1,500 local and US$ 150 (15,000) oversea.

At the same time, President Uhuru also congratulated the Kenyan team for emerging second at the World Martial Arts Mastership Tong Il Moo Do held in South Korea. The martial arts team finished second after amassing a total of nine medals consisting of two gold, two silver and five bronze medals.

“Our martial arts team has also done our country proud by emerging second in South Korea. The fact that the team has excelled in a sport that Kenya is not traditionally known for is a demonstration of the huge sporting potential among our youth that the government is keen to tap into,” said the head-of –state.