Isaih Kiplagat
JOHANNESBURG, May 30- Athletics Kenya (AK) president Isaiah Kiplagat maintains he is well on course to be voted the IAAF Vice-President on Friday after the world body confirmed its list of candidates for the 50th Congress that will run from August 18-20 in Beijing, China.
Kiplagat will vie for one of the four vice-president positions in a contest that has attracted five other candidates, including fellow African and president of Confederation of Africa Athletics (CAA) Hamad Kalkaba Malboum from Cameroon.
Vice-president and world pole vault record holder Sergey Bubka from Ukraine, who is also gunning for the presidency against retired British middle distance legend Lord Sebastian Coe, Abby Hoffman (Canada), Dahlan Al Hamad (Qatar), Alberto Juantorena Danger (Cuba) and Bernard Amsalem (France), complete the list.
Kiplagat, who took a three-month sabbatical from AK at the beginning of this month to concentrate on his campaigns, had entered talks with Kalkaba to have Africa field a single candidate.
“Yes, Kalkaba refused to step down but there is no problem, we can each vie for the post. There are four positions and there is the possibility of Abby stepping down and Bubka is also running for the presidency.
“That will leave four of us but there is still a lot to do to convince delegates to vote for me and, to an extent, Kenya,” Kiplagat, who is also in the race to be elected in one of the nine IAAF Council positions alongside Juantonera, a former 800m record holder, and Ansalem in a field of 38 told reporters.
David Okeyo, AK vice-president in-charge of Competition and Administration, will defend the chairmanship of the IAAF Cross Country Committee against Saad Al-Hiyasat of Jordan and Carlos Cardoso of Portugal.
Okeyo is also in the race for one of the eight member seats in the committee he heads at the world governing body that has attracted 26 contestants.
Other Kenyans who were confirmed candidates include former New York and Boston marathon champion Ibrahim Hussein (Member, IAAF Technical Committee) who heads the IAAF Regional Development Centre in Nairobi and AK vice-president Women’s Affairs Fatma Abdallah Ali (Member, IAAF Women’s Committee).
Joseph Ochieng (Member, IAAF Race Walking Committee) rounds off the list from the country that has an established tradition in long distance running excellence.
-By SuperSport.com
