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| August 04, 2006 | Friday | Rajab 8, 1427 |
Athlete held for falsifying age
NAIROBI, Aug 3: A member of Kenya's world junior championships team was dramatically arrested on Wednesday at the instigation of Kenyan Sports Minister Maina Kamanda on suspicion of falsifying his age.
The minister, accompanied by three detectives, detained runner Thomas Loriongosiwa and said he had copies of two passports both bearing the name Thomas Pkemoi Loriongosiwa but with different dates of birth.
The move threw Kenya's preparations for the global event, to be held in Beijing from Aug 15-20, into disarray.
“I will not rest until I stamp out this scandal. It is not good for Kenyan sports and the image our country has in the global arena,” Kamanda told reporters.
Athletics Kenya chairman Isaiah Kiplagat said the body was not aware of the case until it was disclosed by Kamanda. He said they did not have the equipment to authenticate documents.
“We purely rely on documents provided to us by athletes. We are the ones who raised the issue over the age of runners last year,” Kiplagat said.
One passport indicated Loriongosiwa was born on Jan 14, 1982 and the other May 14, 1988. Loriongosiwa was in the Kenyan junior team which won the overall title in the world cross country championships in Fukuoka.
“I have confirmed with the Department of Immigration that the athlete changed his passport with different dates of birth.
“This is criminal and I have to act as a government minister,”said Kamanda.
The athlete protested his innocence and said his Kenyan manager based in Spain had helped him to acquire the first passport, which shows him as having been born in 1982.
The arrest followed a meeting between Kamanda and IAAF President Lamine Diack in Monaco on July 26 where the issue of age falsifying among Kenyans was discussed.
Two former Kenyans now holding Bahrain passports were arrested on July 7 and questioned over alleged age falsifying.
World junior 2,000m steeplechase champion Dennis Kipkirui Keter, alias Taher Tarek Mubarak, and world junior 800/1500m champion John Yego, renamed Belal Mansour Ali, were accused of taking part in the 2005 world cross country and world junior championships while being over-age.—Reuters
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