Kenyans set to conquer Africa in Ethiopia

The national team to the 16th Africa Championships in Athletics left for Addis Ababa with a promise to get the job done at the home of their fiercest rivals.

"So far, we have trained well and have no injuries to report. Everyone is ready to go to war and we have an experienced team that will go there to fight," team captain and 2001, 1500m World Youth Champion, Isaac Songok, said at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Sunday.

The 40-strong team accompanied by 13 officials left aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight for Addis Ababa.

"We hope to return in glory because our discipline has been very high and we are all motivated," Songok, who will be the major medal hope in 5000m said.

The athlete who missed the national team to the World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh last month after he was dropped from the preliminary squad, promised to atone for the disappointment at the continental event.

"It will be my first African Championship and being an Olympic year, I am aiming to do well so that I qualify for Beijing," said the athlete who has also appeared in two World Championships (Paris and Helsinki).

Team head coach, Julius Kirwa, remained optimistic that the team, considered to be the country’s B side, would compete favourably with the hosts who have all their big guns waiting to pounce.

"We are ready and the athletes are very determined. I have a team that has runners from 100m to the javelin and I expect medals in all events," he said.

The send-off accorded to the team was lacklustre considering. The Government minister who handed them the Kenyan flag was not even expected in the first place.

Transport minister, Chirau Ali Mwakwere, was enroute somewhere else but chanced on the team, smartly decked in black suits and promptly assumed the role of officially seeing it off.

"I am happy to hear that you have prepared well and I believe that you are the best athletes in the world. Ethiopia is located in high altitude, but conditions are similar to Nairobi so you should cope well," Mwakwere said.