NOC-K to hold beach games extravaganza in Malindi

The National Olympics Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) will on 18 and 19 March hold a two-day beach games festival at the Buntwani Park, Malindi.

This will be the first and the biggest Kenya Beach Games that will see teams compete in beach ball games like volleyball, handball, and football as well as other water sports.

NOC-K executive led by Secretary General Francis Mutuku visited Kilifi County government and were received by governor Gideon Mung'aro and his deputy Flora Mbetsa.

“We are humbled as a county that NOC-Kenya Beach Games will be coming to Malindi this month. All roads in Kilifi County will lead to Buntwani Park. The whole county is behind NOC-K and all Kenyan Beach athletes,” the deputy Governor said.

According to Mutuku, the event will bring together competitors from 13 disciplines, for the Games aimed at first, celebrating the diversity of sport while also preparing the teams for upcoming competitions.

“We have left it to the respective federations to tell us how many teams they can enter for the games and have a successful competition within those two days. We also have individual sports like tennis so we do not have a number for the athletes that will attend at the moment,” Mutuku explained.

In addition, players will use the event to prepare for the second edition of the African Beach Games set to be hosted in Tunisia from 14 to 23 June 2023. The first Africa beach Games were held on the island of Sal, Cape Verde in June 2019. In October 2021, Baseball 5 was added as a full medal sport for the 2023 edition.

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“While the event prepares teams for June event as well as the World Beach Games, it is also an opportunity for federations to establish their beach sport. Only handball has an active league that is played exclusively by players that specialize in beach handball.

The rest of the federations have players who are involved in the other versions of their discipline coming in to play for the beach teams whenever necessary. The sports might look the same but there are glaring differences. We should have active beach leagues in all our sports that have a beach version,” Mutuku added.