This archive report was first published on 19 September 2019.
Kenyan high jumper Mathew Sawe, the only athlete representing Kenya in High Jump at the World Athletics Championships, was denied entry to the Moi International Sports Centre in Kasarani, where he was supposed to train ahead of the championships.
According to Sawe, he was locked out of the stadium on both Wednesday and Thursday, despite the African Deaf Athletics Championships, which were being held at the stadium, taking a break on Thursday.
"Yesterday afternoon I wanted to train but I was denied entry to the stadium. I came today morning and it was the same case as I was also denied access to the stadium," Sawe told Citizen Digital.
National team head coach Julius Kirwa blamed the stadium officials for not acting in good faith by denying Sawe entry to the main stadium.
"They are telling us that we need a letter for Sawe to access the stadium yet at the moment we are using the warm up track which is also a facility of the stadium. If they are genuine then they should also deny us from using the warm up track," said Kirwa.
After contacting top AK officials, Kirwa disclosed that the issue is being handled by the team manager Joseph Kiget, with Sawe hoping to resume training as soon as possible.
