A match at the recent cricket tournament held in Pakistan's northern Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR, Pakistan , Jul 24 2013 (IPS)

Pakistanis are no strangers to sports-related violence; in fact, many have come to expect scuffles and conflict, especially following a major cricket match. In the country’s northern Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), however, cricket has become a tool to promote peace.

For over a decade, FATA and its neighbouring provinces, which form Pakistan’s tribal belt that doubles as the border with Afghanistan, have been a safe haven for Taliban militants fleeing the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Kabul and subsequent occupation of Afghanistan by NATO and its allied forces.

Countless attempts to violently crush the Taliban have failed to completely root the militants out of Pakistan’s rocky, mountainous terrain.

Desperate, the local government has turned its attention to alternative coping strategies, with sports quickly becoming a popular “weapon” in the arsenal against religious extremists, especially as a means of turning tribal youth away from militant activity.

An upbeat Shahid Shinwari, secretary of the FATA Olympic Association, told IPS he was pleasantly surprised by the massive turnout at the recent weeklong cricket tournament in which Mohmand Agency – one of seven districts that comprise the tribal areas – defeated the host Bajaur Agency.

Until 2012, Bajaur Agency was a veritable war zone, witnessing a major government offensive against the Taliban in 2008 that saw the deaths of 1,600 militants and 150 civilians and close to 5,000 injured.

Of the 300,000 civilians forced to flee the fighting, only 18,000 have returned, with most of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in makeshift settlements with little access to the most basic services such as running water and healthcare.

That this troubled district could draw a crowd for purely civilian purposes, with residents “starved for entertainment” coming out in droves to support the 16 teams on Jul. 7-14, signals a major turning point in the search for an “elusive peace” here, according to Shinwari.

He said the celebrations following Mohmand Agency’s narrow eight-run victory stood in stark contrast to the climate of terror and anxiety that has prevailed here for years.

Buoyed by FATA’s innovative approach to fighting off terrorism, a cricket team from the northeastern Afghan border province of Kunar also participated in the tournament sponsored by the Pakistani army.

Kunar’s team captain, who asked not to be named, praised the hospitality extended to his team members, adding that such events were “vital for enhancing relations between the two countries”, whose people endure similar hardships at the hands of the Taliban.

“I only hope that sports continue to promote peace,” he told IPS.

Seventeen-year-old Taj Ali, captain of the home team, told IPS that many young people from his generation joined the Taliban in the absence of outlets for their youthful energy.

Now, he says, FATA has undergone a “sea change”, with youth reveling in this newfound opportunity to “thwart the terrorists”.

About 100 small cricket teams, by far the most popular sport among tribal youth, have popped up in remote villages throughout Bajaur Agency.

Eager to capitalise on local enthusiasm, the Pakistani government last year commissioned a 4.9-million-dollar sports complex, complete with all the necessary facilities for training young athletes such as a gymnasium, cricket and football grounds, and indoor courts for basketball, volleyball, squash and badminton.

Already some 5,000 boys and girls frequent this complex, working with several trained professionals to master the sport of their choice.

Kashif Ali, a 17-year-old kabbadi player (a South Asian wrestling sport popular in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) from the Orakzai Agency, told IPS his brother was a militant for three years, but has now renounced insurgent activity in favour of football.

Kashif says he personally knows at least two-dozen other boys who have done the same, bringing the total of militants-turned-athletes to just over 150.

Trainers say sports also promise poor youth a decent income in the future, with many athletes from FATA joining national teams or professional organisations.

Regional governments are casting their nets wide enough to include women – long marginalised by the Taliban in Pakistan’s northern regions – in the wave of sports fever sweeping the region.

Khanum Bibi, a 16-year-old badminton player, came to Peshawar, capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, in search of facilities that are severely lacking in her hometown. She says women are keen to engage in sports, despite strict religious codes that have excluded them from the playing fields for years.

“Sportswomen perform better academically because outdoor activities keep them fit and healthy,” she told IPS.

Her cousin, who came to Peshawar to be trained as a table tennis player, echoed these sentiments, adding that the KP government ought to make investments in sporting facilities in rural areas so that residents can play with their “own people instead of strangers from Peshawar”.

Over 5,000 women in Pakistan’s northern provinces are part of sports teams.

KP Governor Shaukatullah Khan says the local government has now begun a hunt for 400 acres of land on which to construct a billion-dollar international sports complex – complete with grounds, courts, hostels and medical facilities – for the tribal areas, after recognising that “sports [are] the only way to defeat the Taliban.”

The governor praised FATA’s athletes for having bagged 16 medals at the recent National Games in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, despite their lack of training.

“Our players placed second in archery and third in basketball and judo at the nationwide competition, which surprised everyone,” he said, adding that the honour spoke volumes about FATA residents’ natural aptitude for sports.

Frontier Corps Major General Ghayyur Mahmood, in charge of military operations for FATA, told IPS that sports have also been crucial in efforts to improve law and order in the region, by promoting peace and “a sense of normalcy”.

“We have several major events in the pipeline, for which we are putting in place modern indoor and outdoor facilities [capable of hosting] over 20 games,” Shinwari said.

The most eagerly anticipated of these gatherings is the upcoming 11-day all-agency FATA club tournament, slated to begin on Aug. 14, during which the winning clubs in this past April’s intra-agency competitions will vie for the top slots in basketball, volleyball, cricket, kabbadi, badminton, squash, hockey, kushti (a form of local wrestling), netball, judo and karate.

Kashif Ali and his brother are training hard for the games, hoping to bring glory to their agency and win the respect of their family and community members.

The recently rebuilt Maracaná stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Credit: Rio de Janeiro government CC BY 3.0

By Fabíola Ortiz
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul 9 2013 (IPS)

With three years to go to the 2016 Olympic Games, hundreds of athletes in the Brazilian city that will host the games were evicted from the only public track field, and have had nowhere to train for the past six months.

The mega-construction projects underway to provide Rio de Janeiro with the infrastructure needed to host the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games have even affected athletes who aspire to compete in 2016.

“They decided to demolish the only public athletics stadium in the state of Rio de Janeiro. And the sports community was not even given advance notice,” the president of the state athletics federation, Carlos Alberto Lancetta, told IPS.

The stadium he was referring to, the Célio de Barros arena, was built in the 1970s as part of the Maracaná sports complex, which was inaugurated for the 1950 world football championship.

The iconic Maracaná stadium, a symbol of Rio, is undergoing a privatisation process, and its administration will be granted in concession to a consortium of private companies for 35 years.

The Célio de Barros athletics arena, covering 25,000 square metres, had a capacity for 9,000 spectators and a track that was upgraded for the 2007 Pan American Games.

The 800 athletes and students who worked out every day at the complex now have nowhere to train, because the concession involves the demolition of the track, the Olympic swimming pool and even a public school that operates within the complex.

Several athletes with Olympic aspirations had to abandon the complex to train in public parks and military installations, Lancetta complained.

“The Olympic city is losing its athletes. The situation is chaotic; Brazil’s track and field discipline is dying,” he said.

Lancetta, who has been in the field of athletics since 1962, is a former coach who now presides over the Rio de Janeiro federation. He says the discipline has never faced such bad conditions in Brazil as it does today.

Of the 600 athletes who used to train in the stadium, 150 were high performance and several competed in the 2012 Olympic Games in London, he said.

The consortium that won the concession plans to build a new athletics arena and Olympic swimming pool. Meanwhile, the athletes were transferred to the João Havelange Olympic Stadium, popularly known as Engenhão, which opened in 2007 and was leased for 20 years to the Botafogo football club.

But in March, the authorities temporarily shut down Engenhão because of structural flaws in the roof.

The improvised solution found for the athletes was to send them to train in public parks and military installations.

Lancetta said the Célio de Barros stadium should not have been closed down until a new Olympic arena and pool had been built.

But they are not set to be completed until a month ahead of the Olympic Games, and 30 months after the bidding opens in August.

This is “genocide against Olympic sports, and we can’t do anything to stop it. The Olympic Games aren’t doing Brazil’s athletes any favours,” said Lancetta.

Jan. 9 was a day that many track and field athletes and coaches will never forget, because when they showed up at the Maracaná complex, they found that the doors were closed.

Former athlete and coach Edneida Freire was not even able to get inside to collect the materials she uses in the activities she carries out with children, adolescents and the disabled, partly with the aim of discovering new talent.

“They evicted us,” Freire told IPS. “They didn’t even give us any notice; we just got here one day and the gate was closed.”

She feels she is in mourning because many of her students can no longer attend the classes she now gives in public squares, because of the lack of safety.

“Many of them showed promise,” she said. “The great majority were boys and girls from the favelas (shantytowns), and some had problems with the law, and they were practicing sports as a socio-educational activity. All of that is at risk today.”

But Freire still hopes to return someday to Célio de Barros, after the new complex is built. “We couldn’t be any worse off than we are now; we have nowhere to train and compete,” she said.

The “people’s World Cup and Olympics committee”, which groups some 50 social movements, NGOs and trade unions, as well as academics, believes there is still time to turn the situation around, at least partly.

“They’re going to build a parking lot and shopping centre there. They want to boost property values in the area. They announced that they would build another building, but they won’t. It’s all just empty promises,” Committee member Marcelo Edmundo told IPS.

Top school to be closed

The 350 students at a public school that has functioned in the Maracaná complex for nearly 50 years are also facing imminent eviction.

The Friedenreich municipal school – named after football player Arthur Friedenreich (1892-1969) – is ranked the fourth best public school in the state.

It is not clear where the students and teachers are to go. They have to be off the school premises by year-end.

“We will go when the company granted the concession builds us a new school. They want to drag us to another school,” said Carlos Ehlers, a representative of the school’s committee of parents, students and alumni.

Ehlers said one of the biggest problems is that the school has a classroom for students with disabilities.

There is a lack of dialogue with the construction company, he said. “The concessionaire has already decided that we have to go. They said there was no chance of us staying here. But today, I think we have a 50 percent probability of avoiding eviction.”

The conditions of the concession, presented in November 2012, stated that the company that won the bid was to invest 210 million dollars in the complex by 2016, including the demolition and reconstruction of the pool, the Célio de Barros track and gymnasium, and the school.

The bidding process, which was won by a consortium made up of the Brazilian companies IMX, Odebrecht and AEG Administração de Estádios, was challenged in court.

The prosecutor’s office argued that there were irregularities in the plans for the administration of the complex, and questioned the need to demolish the existing installations.

Victorine Fomum, Cameroon’s 2005 African table tennis champion, was given 25 dollars by the government for her achievement. Credit: Ngala Killian Chimtom/IPS

By Ngala Killian Chimtom
YAOUNDÉ, Aug 22 2012 (IPS)

Victorine Fomum is Cameroon’s 2005 African table tennis champion. She often used to “train without rackets, without balls, without appropriate clothing and without good tables.” But despite this, she won gold at the 2005 African Nations Championship. And as a reward for her achievement the government handed her a cheque – for 25 dollars.

“You can imagine what happens at local level. I used to frequently earn 10 dollars as prize money – for winning gold! If I was not also a civil servant, maybe I might have fled too,” she told IPS.

She was referring to the seven Cameroonian athletes who disappeared from the London Olympic Games on Aug. 7. Fomum understands first hand why they did so.

“Training conditions here are horrible,” she said, “The athletes certainly have a right to desire better conditions.”

The athletes – five boxers, a swimmer and a footballer – disappeared from the Olympic village, and later resurfaced requesting asylum in the United Kingdom. They said they did not wish to return to their West African home nation because of the difficult training conditions.

One of the boxers, Thomas Essomba, told the BBC that his country was not able to offer him the opportunities that the UK can. “All we demand is to become champions. England offers the best opportunities for us. The most important issue now is to find sponsors and join boxing clubs,” he said.

Even football, the country’s most popular sport – in 1990 the country became the first African team to reach a football World Cup quarterfinal – has bad infrastructure and suffers from a lack of funds.

Cameroon is currently ranked 59th in the world by the International Football Federation, FIFA – eight spots ahead of South Africa, which has significantly more resources. South Africa will host the 2013 African Nations Cup at a cost of 400 million dollars, 300 million of which will be paid for by the country’s Football Association.

But back in Cameroon, Simon Lyonga, a sports analyst with the state broadcaster Cameroon Radio Television, told IPS that local football players earn a mere 25 dollars a month.

And while other athletes do not earn salaries here, local competitions award low prize money. Gold medallists in Cameroon frequently earn as little as six dollars.

Even in a country where, according to the World Bank, 40 percent of Cameroonians live below the poverty line of 1.25 dollars a day, six dollars in prize money is considered very low.

“These are not conditions that would keep any youth around,” Fondo Sikod, a professor of economics at the University of Yaounde II, told IPS.

Fomum knows all about the limited financial reward. She pointed to her display shelf of more than 50 trophies, most of them awards for winning first place.

“On the basis of all this, you may think that I am rich. But I tell you, all the training only ended with the glory of winning. It has very little to do with financial reward, which is quite frustrating.”

The president of the Cameroon Olympic Committee, Kalkaba Malboum, admitted that the country lacked good training facilities.

“We don’t have good training conditions as in other countries. As a result, our athletes will not hesitate to leave for other countries with better training conditions that can improve their performance, meet their dreams of becoming professional and earn more money to improve their living conditions as well as those of their families,” he said on state television on Aug. 10.

One example of a lack of good infrastructure is the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium, which was constructed to host the African Nations Cup in 1972. It is still Cameroon’s main stadium, even though it is frequently suspended from international use by FIFA because it has not been maintained.

“The failure to build sport infrastructure in the country is just a result of the lack of political will, and not the absence of financial resources,” Lyonga said.

He said sports, particularly football, brought financial resources into the country. Part of these resources, Lyonga said, is meant to go towards the construction and maintenance of local sports infrastructure.

“In 2010, Cameroon got 800,000 dollars from its participation in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. How the money was used is anyone’s guess,” he said.

Cameroon is expected to register economic growth of 5.2 percent for 2012, up from 4.8 percent in 2011. And Malboum hopes that the government will invest more in the sports sector.

Currently, the Chinese government is co-financing the 661-million-dollar construction costs of four stadia. In addition, there are plans to construct a National Olympics Preparation Centre in Obala, on the outskirts of the country’s capital Yaoundé.

Meanwhile, athletes here hope that the mindset towards sport sponsorship will change. Currently local athletes do not receive sponsorship.

“Each athlete struggles on his or her own,” Fomum said. She added that while Cameroonians loved sports and winning, they balked at the idea of investing in it. So she had to use her own money to pursue her sporting career.

“My dad told me that achievers must always brave the odds.”

David Rudisha, far right, trained with Kenya’s top athletes in a strict regimen of pre-Olympic training before heading off to the games in London. Credit: Brian Ngugi/IPS

By Brian Ngugi
NAIROBI, Aug 11 2012 (IPS)

When Kenyan athlete David Lekuta Rudisha simultaneously became the first person ever to break the 1min 41sec mark in the 800m while also becoming the first person to set a world record at this year’s London Olympics on Thursday Aug. 9, he managed another first. He briefly united an ethnically divided nation.

Across this East African nation people gathered in homes, shopping malls, restaurants and pubs to witness Rudisha, locally nicknamed “King David”, confirm his status as the champion of the 800m with his winning time of 1min 40.91sec.

On the night of Rudisha’s win ethnic rifts melted, and it was not uncommon to see men and women from the Kalenjin and Kikuyu ethnic groups, the two main rival groups in the country’s 2007 post-election violence, dancing together in jubilation.

“I hope the sense of unity that was brought about by Rudisha’s win will trickle down to all aspects of our lives,” Samuria Pulley, a 32-year-old resident of Kibera slums in Nairobi, told IPS.

Barely five years ago Kenya found itself on the verge of destruction after post-election ethnic violence, triggered by a bungled general election in December 2007, saw neighbour turn against neighbour. Almost 1,200 people were killed and 600,000 displaced from their homes in the ensuing mass violence.

And tensions still remain as, according to Human Rights Watch, “victims of rape, assault, arson, and other crimes still await justice.”

“Police officers, who killed at least 405 people during the violence, injured over 500 more, and raped dozens of women and girls, enjoy absolute impunity,” the organisation said in a December 2011 report.

Four prominent Kenyans suspected of inciting the nationwide violence are yet to stand trial at the International Criminal Court.

The suspects, who face crimes against humanity, include former Higher Education Minister William Ruto, radio presenter Joshua Sang, current Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, and former civil service boss Francis Muthaura. Their trials will only commence on Apr. 10 and 11, 2013.

Ethnic tensions remain raw and are festering across the country. The National Cohesion and Integration Commission, which was formed as part of reconciliation efforts after the 2007 violence to facilitate and promote the peaceful co-existence and integration of Kenyans, warned that violence could flare up again if this remains unchecked.

On May 8 the National Security and Intelligence Service informed the government that strong indicators of violence exist as an increase in tribal politics has fuelled ethnic hostilities, as campaigning for the March 2013 general election enters high gear.

But when Rudisha did what no one else has been able to do at the games, including the 100m and 200m gold medallist Usain Bolt, by setting a new world record – the country erupted in celebration.

Prior to Rudisha’s win, Kenyans were disappointed that their legendary middle-distance runners failed to win gold. Ezekiel Kemboi had been the country’s only gold medalist after winning the 3,000m steeplechase. But Kemboi’s victory did not automatically inspire unity among Kenyans the way Rudisha’s did, as he faces criminal charges.

Kemboi, who won Kenya’s first gold medal at the games, competed after being granted bail following his arrest for allegedly stabbing a woman on Jun. 27 in Eldoret, in Kenya’s Rift Valley province.

The woman claimed Kemboi stabbed her for allegedly refusing his sexual advances after a drinking bout. Kemboi denied the allegations.

“It is defeatist for an athlete to hope to inspire unity among Kenyans while his actions outside of the field are contrary to that,” 23-year-old Kenya Polytechnic University College student Wambui Kuria told IPS of Kemboi’s victory.

So it is no wonder that Rudisha’s run, which pushed not only him, but also the rest of the field to personal bests, inspired such elation and unity.

“I believe this unity is not false and I hope it persists beyond the Olympics,” Faith Kyomukama, a 24-year-old student at Daystar University, told IPS.

“Why would we discriminate against one another on the basis of tribe? We have shown that our unity can override these small differences,” added Kyomukama.

And social experts are hopeful that sport can be used to permanently bridge ethnic divisions in the country.

Dr. Gidraph Wairire, a sociology lecturer at the University of Nairobi, told IPS that sport could help Kenya permanently bridge ethnic divisions.

He said that sport produced, for both those participating and watching, a special “feel-good chemical”, which triggered a unifying bond among citizens.

“Once you see someone winning … at that point you can actually forget your differences as individuals in ethnic communities,” he said.

“In the case of Kenyan athletes, if this power of sport can be prioritised and tapped, Kenya would be able to bridge these ethnic divisions which in any case are equally triggered by minor differences,” he said. He added that these divisions were only superficial and not inherently permanent.

According to Dr. Joyce Nyairo, the resident representative of the Ford Foundation and an expert on Kenyan popular culture, Kenya can use sport to rewrite its national narrative and forge an even stronger national unity with great effectiveness.

Nyairo, who has written about ethnicity amongst the country’s 42 ethnic groups, said it was a pity that Kenya’s government failed to build policies around nation-building projects that involved sport.

She said that the impact sport had in inspiring unity surpassed any other reconciliation effort, and added that Rudisha’s victory had done just that.

“Our sense of who we are, of what we have in common with one another is marshalled and defended on the sports field just as it might be written in constitutions and debated in parliaments,” she told IPS.

Nyairo said that sport could help bridge existing ethnic divides in unimaginable ways.

“If we shield ourselves under our athletes’ stories, embrace them and learn from them, we will surely see the seamless contours that join Kenya over and above the rifts that threaten our appreciation of a common past and a common destiny,” she said.

It is a common destiny that many of the country’s athletes had hoped to inspire by participating in the Olympics.

“I am hoping that our victories will inspire long-lived unity beyond the ones Kenyans show when they cheer us,” the country’s Olympic women’s 800m silver medallist, Janeth Jepkosgei, told IPS prior to her departure to London.

Jepkosgei said that the post-election violence marked one of the saddest points in her life and added that Kenyans should realise that national unity was more important than ethnic pride.

“Some of my friends with whom I train are Cuban, American and also Ethiopian. I don’t see why my fellow Kenyans can’t de-tribalise their mindsets too and see that we are one,” she said. Jepkosgei has qualified for the women’s 800m final on Saturday, Aug. 11.

While the Kenyan athletics’ team head coach Julius Kirwa has been under fire for his team’s performance, he will be satisfied with having achieved one of his goals: “We want to see these games unite Kenyans beyond the track. That’s our wish,” he told IPS prior to departing for the games.

And now many Kenyans hope that the sense of unity shown on an August night can outlive a historical Olympic moment.

David Rudisha, far right, trained with Kenya’s top athletes in a strict regimen of pre-Olympic training before heading off to the games in London. Credit: Brian Ngugi/IPS

By Brian Ngugi
NAIROBI, Aug 1 2012 (IPS)

On a chilly morning at the Moi International Sports Centre in Nairobi, the largest multi-purpose sports centre in Kenya, 800m world record holder David Rudisha looked like just another athlete.

At 1.90m tall, Rudisha is not diminutive. But as he trained with Kenya’s reigning Olympic and world 1,500m champion, 23-year-old Asbel Kiprop, and close to two dozen of the country’s top athletes in a strict regimen of pre-Olympic training, he appeared to be just another member of the Kenyan team.

But Rudisha and his teammates are far from average. The East African nation’s athletics team competing in this year’s summer London Olympics consists of three Olympic and four world champions. Rudisha, 23, has been tipped as a potential favourite to break his own 800m world record time of 1.41.01 at the games.

Vanity Fair called him “the best Olympic track star” yet to be discovered. The magazine said that once he takes to the track in London, Kenya’s star runner will become a global household name – just like the Olympic and world sprint record holder Usain Bolt. However, Rudisha is already a household name in Kenya, with locals nicknaming him “King David”.

Any medals he and his team mates win will really be medals also for the developing world, given that athletics is dominated by sportsmen and sportswomen from the developed world.

But when IPS met with him after his training session, he played down the adoration.

Instead, his mind was focused on winning gold.

For almost a month, the athletes trained uninterrupted and in isolation, with no visitors allowed. But the media was given access to them during one of their last training sessions on home soil before they boarded a flight for the United Kingdom on Jul. 30. The team had opted to remain at high altitude for as long as possible, deciding against training in England.

The soft-spoken athlete told IPS that he was confident of winning a gold medal at his Olympic debut in London.

“I don’t think I am going for anything less than gold. This is my first Olympics. Since I am the world record holder and the world champion, so far, I want to clinch Olympic gold. It is the only medal missing on my shelf,” Rudisha said.

He exuded optimism, buoyed by his good running times this year.

“This is my best year already and I am in the best shape of my life. So I want to go there and win,” Rudisha said.

“There are good guys out there who have processed good times this year, but I am confident because they haven’t come close to what I have done this year. I am very confident, I am in a shape of my own.”

He said spirits in the Kenyan camp were very high and the team expected to win a number of medals at the Olympics.

“We expect good results, and good things to come from this competition,” he added.

Teammate Kiprop told IPS that Kenya currently boasts the best team in middle-distance running, and that the world should expect his country to take all the medals in the 1,500m.

“We have a very strong team in the 1,500m with me, Silas Kiplagat and Nixon Kiplimo Chepseba being the three top athletes in the world at the moment. If things work well, we are surely talking of a clean sweep in the 1,500m,” Kiprop said after his training session.

Also included in the team are double world 5,000m and 10,000 champion Vivian Cheruiyot; reigning 800m Olympic champion Pamela Jelimo; former 800m world champion Janeth Jepkosgei; and world champion marathon runner Edna Kiplagat.

Ezekiel Kemboi is the reigning Olympic 3,000m steeplechase gold medallist, and Brimin Kipruto is the current 3,000m steeplechase world and Olympic champion.

Kiprop, meanwhile, played down expectations of breaking the 1,500m record. He effortlessly won the 1,500m with a world-best time of 3:28.88 at the Herculis Meeting in Monaco in July.

“At the moment I think the first priority is to win an Olympic gold medal, and then we’ll see when to attack the record. If not this year, maybe next year,” he said.

Jepkosgei, the country’s Olympic women’s 800m silver medallist, wants to bring home a gold medal.

She said that her primary focus was to make it to the finals of the 800m.

“Obviously, I want to be on the podium. The 800m is a tactical race, but I am prepared for this,” she told IPS.

Jepkosgei said she anticipated stiff competition in the heats. She singled out African champion Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi, her Kenyan compatriot Jelimo, South Africa’s Caster Semenya and Russia’s Mariya Savinova as some of her biggest threats.

She could not say if she would be able to beat Jelimo if they met in the finals. “I can’t tell if I can beat her, but am going to do my best,” she said.

Indeed Jepkosgei and her fellow athletes know that Kenyans expect nothing less than victory from them. The country’s runners are legendary and Kenya has been a fertile training ground for the development of world record-setting athletes.

Since Kenya participated in the Olympics for the first time in 1956, the country has won a total of 78 medals, mainly in athletics and boxing.

Kenyan Henry Rono is considered the greatest long-distance runner the world has known. In 1978, in less than three months he broke four world records: the 10,000m, the 5,000m, the 3,000m steeplechase, and the 3,000m. It is an achievement that no one has been able to beat.

Kipchoge Keino, a two-time Olympic gold medallist whose winning time at the 1978 Summer Olympics remained the 1,500m record for 16 years, is still a national hero.

Assistant head coach for the Kenyan Olympic team, Sammy Rono, told IPS that they would enter as many athletes as possible in the races as part of the country’s game plan to win as many medals as they could.

“It will then give us a strong base to execute their strategies in the individual races,” Rono said.

“Anything goes in these championships…There is no room for mistakes,” said Rono.

Olympic head coach, Julius Kirwa, told IPS that beyond seeking to maintain the country’s success in middle-distance running, Kenya will aim for medals in the men’s and women’s 10,000m, and in the 5,000m men’s race.

“We have trained well and are hopeful, but at the same time we are cautiously optimistic. In 2008 we had six gold medals; we hope to surpass this number,” he said. The team landed in London on Tuesday Jul. 31.

He dreamed of one day running on international athletic tracks and worked hard for seven long years to make this a reality.

Tanveer Hussain, one of Kashmir’s top athlete’s, ran a 100-kilometre “protest” marathon to bring attention to government apathy towards sports. Credit: Sana Altalf/IPS

But today, despite Tanveer Hussain becoming the top athlete in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, his dream is quickly vanishing in the face of government apathy towards sports.

“Every time I won a marathon, all I got was a pat on my shoulder and false promises. The government has never supported me even though I am (one of the) top athletes in the state,” Tanveer, a 12^th-grade student, told IPS.

Tanveer has won numerous long-distance races, the most recent being the 42-kilometre Jammu Marathon organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Police, in which he outran 17,000 athletes.

“The authorities don’t organise any sporting events; the only competitions are those hosted by local banks or the police. There are no avenues for me, or other players, to reach national or international levels,” Tanveer told IPS.

“As a top runner in the State, the government should send me to participate in nationals, which would bring pride to the Valley. But no one takes any interest.”

A few weeks ago, Tanveer even ran a 100-kilometre “protest” marathon, but his action failed to move authorities.

“I am awfully depressed, watching my dream die. I am unable to decide if I should continue with the sport or quit.”

Tanveer is certainly not alone in his predicament. Scores of other athletes around Kashmir are faced with a similar decision: to follow their passion to master a sport, or give it up in favour of more “realistic” prospects.

Eleven years of experience failed to fetch Riyaz Ahmad a professional career in cycling, forcing him to abandon the sport forever. He said a lack of infrastructure and inadequate funding kept him and other cyclists from achieving success.

“We do not have a proper sports policy in Kashmir, which is a major drawback. There is no professional training, and no one to organise participation in different tournaments,” he told IPS.

A dearth of coaches in the Valley is yet another deterrent, Riyaz added. Often, senior sportspeople are forced to train youngsters. “We don’t even have a proper athletics track,” he said.

Mushtaq Ahamd, who gave up cycling four years ago, asked bitterly, “How could we run after something that will give us no job or financial security? No one ever cared for our talents and hard work.”

Almost all sportspeople in Kashmir are facing tough times due to government negligence. Experienced athletes are quitting in droves and disinterest in sports is rampant among youth in the valley.

“Our children who want to make sports their career have no security. Sports is the last thing the government thinks of,” Nayeema (not her real name), an international-standard sportswoman hailing from the Valley, told IPS.

Authorities have little to no interest in the condition of facilities or the quality of athletes, and funding is scarce, she lamented.

The Jammu and Kashmir State Sports Council, an autonomous body responsible for providing funds to various sports associations and monitoring their work, is also tasked with organising tournaments, training players, upgrading infrastructure and providing all necessary assistance to sportspeople.

Forty-eight associations are affiliated with the Council, and thereby entitled to government funding. Other non-affiliated associations, which numbers in the hundreds, receive no state subsidies.

Through associations affiliated with the Council, each of Kashmir’s 22 districts is allocated just 10,000 rupees (about 180 dollars) for training junior, sub-junior and senior players of all sports.

“We have hundreds of players from each district. How can this meagre amount suffice to train and support all our budding players?” Nayeema asked.

“All players suffer here, in varying degrees,” Nayeema told IPS. “The rights of players are undermined. Kashmir could produce hundreds of world-class players if only the government took them seriously.”

Ironically, the chief minister of the state, Omar Abdullah, heads the State Sports Council.

But “even after repeatedly pressing on authorities to improve sports in Kashmir, nothing is done. Our valuable talent and hard work is wasted,” Rashid Ahmad Choudhary, Kashmir’s international fencer, told IPS.

Nayeema remarked that though the Sports Council disburses funds to associations, there is no monitoring on how this money is being used.

“Whatever funds are released should be properly utilised. But with the condition of sports deteriorating, one wonders where all the money goes,” she said.

According to the official sources, rampant corruption in virtually every aspect of civil and political life in Kashmir undoubtedly affects the sports arena as well.

Afzal, an administrative officer of the Sports Council, admitted that inadequate funds have a negative effect on sports in the Valley, adding that the government has been asked to increase funds.

(END)