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Kenyan teams to miss out regional netball tourney for lack of funds

Xinhua, February 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

Five Kenyan netball teams are on the brink of forfeiting their places at the East African Club Championships, scheduled for March 14 in Zanzibar owing to lack of funds.

Four ladies' teams and three men's team qualified to participate at the tournament by virtue of being the top four and three teams respectively in the 2014 Kenyan National Netball League.

"Only two teams have confirmed participation at the event, with the rest not showing signs of taking part in the championship citing lack of money as the deadline for close of registration gets closer," Kenya Netball Association (KNA) Secretary, Lillian Anupi, told Xinhua on Sunday.

"There is a lot of lack of concern about netball in Kenya and sometimes we wonder whether the game is really considered as important within Kenyan sports circles," the secretary said.

The two sides that have confirmed participation at the tourney are Kenya Prisons and Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MOICT) netball sides.

Those that have not confirmed participation include Western Stima, Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), Ulinzi and Bunge.

Kenya Prisons men's netball team, winners of the 2014 East African Netball Club Championships, are reported to be training hard and are favorites to win this year's title.

For a long time netball has been treated as a fringe sport within the sports circles and it hardly features on the radar screens of sports authorities in the country.

On the rare occasion that teams heading to play at regional tournaments get funding, officials have literally camped at the doorsteps of relevant officials to plead their case.

During the 10th All Africa Games held in Maputo in 2011, the netball team travelled to the championships without official playing uniform and had to reckon with playing against their opponents while kitted in motley of colors. Enditem