The first batch of ‘Team Kenya’ on Monday morning landed in Gold Coast Australia for this year’s edition of the Commonwealth Games.The 21st edition of the games will be held between April 4-15, 2018.
Australia will be hosting the games for the 5th time in history. Members of weightlifting, boxing, triathlon and cycling teams along with the medical team, landed in Australia on Monday morning.
The boxing team will lack the services of fast-rising female boxer Veronica Mbithe who was forced to drop from the team, in order to join the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF).
“We welcomed them at the airport and they travelled without a hitch,” said Kenya’s head of delegation to the games Barnabas Korir is quoted by Nation Sports.
“We had arranged for them, through Kenya Airways, to take a nap at a hotel in Bangkok while waiting for their connecting flight to Brisbane,” added Korir.
Commonwealth games bring together over 70 nations every four years. The last edition was held in Glasgow, Scotland.
Kenya finished 9th in the world and 3rd in Africa behind South Africa and Nigeria with a total of 25 medals.
They were 10 gold, 10 silver and 5 bronze medals. Team Kenya will be aiming at improving on that performance this year.