Sports Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has extolled the national women’s amputee football team for finishing fourth at the recently concluded Amputee Women’s World Cup in Colombia.
Murkomen hosted the team to a luncheon in Nairobi on Thursday and used the opportunity to reiterate the government’s commitment to support the team in future continental and international championships.
Kenya finished fourth at the Women’s Amputee World Cup a result that thrust them into spotlight with the CS saying in doing so the team went beyond to prove their ability to excel.
‘’You played with joy and resilience proving to the world that disability is not a barrier to sporting excellence. The many young men and women across the country who might be having any form of disability you have proven that any form of disability is not an obstacle or a barrier in sports excellence’’Murkomen remarked.
Kenya topped their group with the highlight of the preliminary matches being their 1-0 win against England.
‘’The win against England was like a revenge match against our opponents who had beaten our U17 in the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup’’ Haed Coach Abdalla Otieno said.
They would proceed to the quarter finals where they saw off Ukraine but were stopped at the semi final by hosts Colombia…
‘’We thought we could win this title,we sat down and learnt from our mistakes and could have prevented even the goal we conceded in the semi final’’Clara Siele who captained the side opined.
Meanwhile Murkomen refuted claims that the team was left on its own after pictures emerged on social media alluding that the squad was stranded at Frankfurt Airport Germany on their return from the tournament.
‘’I was actually very shocked and immediately I picked the phone and called an official and asked them about it,I was shocked that all the people I was talking to did not what was happening and when I requested to speak with the captain they also had learnt it from the social media.As a ministry we will never allow any team that’s representing Kenya to board a flight if we have not given them the required resources to support them’’Murkomen said
Team Captain Clara Siele clarified that the team received necessary support before and during the championship rubbishing the claims that the squad had been abandoned.
‘’Actually we were never stranded it was a lay over and as you watched we were given comfortable beds to relax as we waited for the next flight. We did not know where the video came from.The ministry supported us, and made sure that we had visas and air tickets we appreciate how they supported us’’,Clara stated.
The Cs said the team which consisted 12 players and 7 officials was all taken of and committed to facilitating them in upcoming continental and international assignments .
