Kenya Amputee team is among six regional countries that have been invited to feature in the Cup of the Confederation of East and Central Africa Amputee Football to be held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from 22 -30 June.
The Kenyan team, coached by Willis Odhiambo and David Akhonya, has been in non-residential training at Parklands Sports Club for the last one month in anticipation of the first edition of the event.
Speaking after conducting a training session, Odhiambo exuded confidence of Kenya performing well especially given that it is the most experienced among the six entrants.
According to Kenya Amputee Football Federation treasurer Polycarp Mboya, the tournament has attracted hosts Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya ,Rwanda, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo.
Kenya will be going into the event with the advantage of having previously featured in the World Cup in 2014 and 2018 in Mexico during which time the team was bailed out financially by Nairobi governor Mike Sonko.
The team which leaves for Dar on Friday needs KSh 600,000 to cater for transport and uniform and is seeking for another bail out from the Nairobi county government.
In the meantime, the regional cup will be conducted under the statutes of the World Amputee Football Federation and each participating nation has the liberty to send at least 15 players, five officials and a referee.
Last year, the team staged a sit-in demanding their allowances totalling KSh2 million from the government.
However, neither Sports CS Rashid Echesa nor his PS Kirimi Kaberia or any official from the Ministry for that matter was there to address their concerns.
Most of them had not eaten anything since arriving in the country from Guadalajara, Mexico City, in a trip punctuated by a 21-hour delay owing to a mix up in the booking of flights by the government.
