Africa-Press – Kenya. Chess Kenya have picked six players to represent the country at the Africa Junior Championships scheduled for November 12-20 in Algeria.
Robert Mcligeyo and Aguda Lwanga will lead the team which will also feature Timothy Mwabu, Erica Muturi, Mercy Ingado and Elizabeth Cassidy.
“We have a group of six including Muturi and Mcligeyo who we are sponsoring for the event,” said the CK president Bernard Wanjala. He said they have a busy calendar with four other major events on the card.
Locally, CK will stage Kenya National Championships, National League Finals and the Bungoma Open. The other international tournament is the Africa Amateur Championships.
He lamented that finances have been their greatest challenge and revealed that support from the private sector would be a huge boost.
“With financial support, I believe we will do better,” he said, adding that sometimes they are forced to go into their pockets to make sure the players do not miss such great opportunities.
“Chess is the next big thing in the country as long as we plan well. We are planning to start the county series to create awareness,” he said.
Wanjala said he is happy with the progress they have made as a federation since the year began and he is looking forward to keeping the fire burning. He said having strong constitutional guidelines is what has kept them intact.
“I am happy with the far we have come. We wanted to redefine our objectives and in February, we had a new constitution. Our goal is to impact the youth positively and that is working well,” he said.
Wanjala is a strong believer in nurturing young talent as he believes the future belongs to the youth. He added that he is proud of how the young players are making use of their talent to win and develop themselves.
“Juniors are more talented and committed and they need our support the most. They have also improved their lives immensely through the prizes they get and that gives me a lot of energy to keep going,” Wanjala said.
For More News And Analysis About Kenya Follow Africa-Press
