NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 6 – World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe is upbeat Kenya will host a successful World Under-20 Athletics Championships slated for August 17-22 in Nairobi.
Coe was speaking to Nation Media Group after the media house on Thursday announced that it has partnered with The TV Media Sport (TVMS), the long-time free-to-air media rights partner of World Athletics in sub-Saharan Africa to beam the global event live via NTV.
“Athletics is at the hearts of Kenyan life and culture and we are extremely excited to celebrate the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Nairobi this august. Many of Kenya’s most celebrated athletics stars including David Rudisha and Faith Kipyegon have emerged from the premier age group competition in the world,” Coe said.
“The support of Kenyan media for athletics has been phenomenal all over the years. I am delighted that the Nation Media Group through NTV have secured the free to air broadcast rights for the World Athletics Under-20 championships, this will ensure that millions of Kenyan athletics fans follow the competition live from the Kasarai Stadium from NTV and free of charge,” Coe underscored.
The event was graced by Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Culture and Heritage, Amina Mohamed who urged the media to continue highlighting the doping conspiracy and misreporting from foreign media who paint untrue picture of Kenya’s stand to fighting doping.
“Our collective media partners have developed pools of talented, professional sports journalists and editors who continue to be instrumental in our mission to deepen Kenya’s global position as a leading sports destination,” CS Amina underscored.
“I urge Nation Media Group and other media partners to support the Ministry’s protest against irresponsible and malicious reporting by a section of foreign media with the intent to discredit Kenya’s sporting history. Kenya has a zero-tolerance policy towards doping and has led the war on doping from the front,” the CS urged.
On his part, President of TVMS Hédi Hamel said, “The World Athletics U20 Championships is a fantastic event to discover the upcoming stars of Athletics. We are grateful for World Athletics to have decided to grant Kenya the privilege to hold such an attractive event. The atmosphere in the Stadium will be amazing thanks to the performances on the field of play of all these athletes coming from all over the World. I have no doubt that through the marketing expertise of the NMG the whole host country will be cheering for their athletes and for the sport they love.”
“It is exciting and a great honour to be awarded the exclusive World Athletics U20 Championships free-to-air media rights in Kenya, the first time ever for such a major athletics event to take place on the African soil,” said NMG’s Group CEO Stephen Gitagama.