Gate charges at IAAF Championships Kasarani is absolutely free
President Uhuru Kenyatta has just finished giving his official opening speech for the 10th, ongoing, and last world under 18 IAAF Championships at Kasarani. Concluding his speech, the President has declared that any Kenyan willing to go to Kasarani and spectate the ongoing athletic championship is free to do so at no charge at all.
The newly refurbished Kasarani stadium has a 60,000 sitting capacity, and if Kenyans were as enthusiastic with athletics as they are with football, music, or soaps, then the declaration that the world under 18 championship will be free for all means we should expect a flooding of spectators at Kasarani starting tomorrow.
World under 18 IAAF Championships, known as IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics up to November 2015, is a global athletics event comprising track and field events for competitors aged 17 or younger. This year’s world under 18 IAAF Championships is the last in the series after the 206th IAAF Council Meeting decided to put an end to the championships. The decision was reached so as to give the continental under 18 championships room for improvement.
Kenya is the second country in Africa after Morocco to host the World under 18 IAAF championships, where Morocco hosted the championships from 13th to 17th July 2005. The championships have been taking place in mid July every two years since 1999. The countries that have hosted the championships include Poland, Hungary, Canada, Morocco, Czech Republic, Italy, France, Ukraine, Colombia and now Kenya.
The hosting of the world under 18 IAAF championship has given Kenya a rare chance to show the world her readiness to host other high profile International sporting events. After the championships, Kenya can but hope for an opportunity to host events such as the Olympics, IAAF World Championships, and The World Cup (football) among others. As Kenyan athletes join others to compete in the world under 18 IAAF championships, we at CheteNET can only but wish them all the best – let them break some world records.
