Kenya: Only Three More Awaited in Camp As Komon's Axing Raises Eyebrows

Only three athletes - Vivian Cheruiyot, Sylvia Kibet and Geoffrey Mutai - are missing from Kenya's World Cross Country Championships' training camp in Kigari, Embu.

The team is preparing for the global championships to be held in Punta Umbria, Spain, on March 20.

However, there was a sigh of relief for the coaches when World Cross silver medallist Linet Masai, Vincent Chepkok and Paul Tanui reported at the weekend, bringing the number of the athletes in camp to 21.

But this does not in any way clear the dark cloud surrounding the axing of World 10-kilometre (road) record holder Leonard Patrick Komon from the Kenya team.

Japan-based Tanui, eighth in last year's global championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, was promoted from the Kenya team to the Africa Cross Country Championships to replace Komon for the global contest.

The announcement of Komon's axing, made by the team's head of delegation and Athletics Kenya (AK) treasurer, Joseph Kinyua, stung the former World Cross silver medallist as he prepared to parade on the streets of San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Sunday in an effort to break his own record at the World's Best 10km race.

Komon (28 minutes and seven seconds) finished fourth in a race won by compatriot Sammy Kitwara in 27:34 ahead of Ethiopian duo of Dejen Gebremakel (27:44) and Lelisa Desisa (28:02).

 Allafrica News