Five skaters in South Korea for Winter Games training
By Amos Abuga, January 7, 2020
Three Kenyan athletes and a coach are in Pyeongchang, South Korea for ‘The Dream Program’ that started yesterday and will end on January 18.
Chebet Koech (12 years), Chumbana Muhusini (15) and 13-year-old Hassnein Ali Shah were selected through a competitive process last November and received full scholarships to attend the programme.
Accompanying the three is Asa Nyariki, a roller skating coach from Mombasa. The young athletes practise roller skating and have recently been introduced to ice skating, which they practise at Panari Sky Centre.
Daniel Safari, 27, a former beneficiary of the programme was selected as a mentor for the subsequent editions.
Safari is now a professional alpine skier training in Utah, United States and hopes to qualify as the first Paralympic skier to represent Kenya in the upcoming Beijing Winter Paralympic Games in 2022.
He will race in two FIS level races while in Korea, sponsored by the Dream Program. A legacy programme of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics 2018, ‘The Dream Program’ seeks to nurture young winter sports talents who can represent the country in Winter Sports in future.