By John Kwoba


NAIROBI nike air vapormax saldi , Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Kenya expects more teams and individual athletes to qualify for the Rio Olympics as the country seeks to surpass their 2008 Beijing Games performance.


After meeting with Athletics Kenya (AK) officials in Nairobi, Kipchoge Keino, the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) Chairman, said Monday, "We need to act fast and ensure the preparations are going on well. "


"That is why we are meeting with the respective teams to see what their demands are and see how best we can come to work together for the common good of the Kenya team," Keino said.


He commended the AK leadership and urged all officials to work together for the benefit of Kenya team and enhance the performance of Team Kenya during the Rio Olympics


Athletics remains the country's golden goose having won the only medals the country has had since the Sydney Olympics in 2000.


In Beijing, Kenya had its best performance claiming six gold, four silver and four bronze medals. In London four years ago, the country had two gold, four silver and five bronze medals. In total, Kenya has had 79 medals from athletics and seven in boxing.


"We need to improve our medal tally and that is why we are taking serious our preparations and see that we enter as many athletes as possible," said Keino.


At the London Olympics, Kenya had surpassed the record set in Beijing by a single athlete. A total of 47 athletes, 27 men and 20 women, competed in athletics, boxing, swimming and weightlifting.


Keino said they expect at least 70 athletes to take part including Rugby Sevens (men and women), which will be making its debut in the games.


Women's volleyball also has a chance to claim the continental spot having missed out in the last two editions in London and Beijing.


"The Rio games are important to us and we want to work on areas we have not been successful before. Even in athletics, you saw that sprinters have all qualified and we want other disciplines to also push for more quotas," Keino said.


"But I must thank our sponsors for giving our young athletes a chance to showcase their endless potential as everything that we do should be for the glory of our country Kenya," he added.


Kenya plans to spend five million U.S. dollars to send the team of over 90 athletes and officials to the games.


Keino's meeting with AK officials discussed among other things the quota for the athletes for Team Kenya, the national trials, residential camp, international competition calendar for athletes, eligibility and qualification period, the marathon team and accreditation.


"The accreditation process for athletes who will take part in Rio has already started and will be closed on March 29. The meeting also agreed that the advance party for Rio 2016 will depart from Nairobi on August 20," said Athletics Kenya President Jackson Tuwei.


Tuwei said the meeting was important to help them plan ahead and ensure that the team is well prepared and avoid challenges that were faced during the London 2012 Games.


The former coach of champion Hong Kong hurdler Vera Lui Lai-yiu has been arrested after he was accused of sexually assaulting the athlete when she was a teenager.


The suspect was detained two months after Lui became the first high-profile woman in socially conservative Hong Kong to speak out against abuse as part of the #MeToo movement exposing sexual misconduct.

Vera Lui Lai-yiu file photo

In an open letter posted on Facebook on her 23rd birthday in November, she accused her former coach of sexually assaulting her when she was a schoolgirl, prompting the city's leader Carrie Lam to ask police to investigate.


A 76-year-old man was arrested for "indecent assault" Sunday but has since been released on bail, police confirmed to AFP. Police declined to name him.


The #MeToo campaign spread rapidly in October after multiple accusations against Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and has since shaken artistic, media and political circles globally.


Lui said she was inspired to speak out by American Olympic gold-winning gymnast McKayla Maroney, one of a number of women who accused former USA Gymnastic team doctor Lawrence Nassar of abusing them.


Nassar was last week sentenced to 40 to 175 years in jail for criminal sexual conduct.


Lui had previously recalled how she thought nothing of it when the coach offered her a massage at his home to relax her muscles, but that he then removed her clothes and molested her.


She did not identify the perpetrator but the school attended by Lui at the time said they had immediately stopped working with the accused coach after she told them of her intention to publicise the incident.

　　In an open letter posted on Facebook on her 23rd birthday, Lui Lai-yiu did not name the man who abused her as a young teenager, calling him "coach Y". (Photo: AFP)

Lui - who took the gold medal in the 60-metre women's hurdles at the Asian Indoor Games in September - said she decided to speak out a decade later in hopes of breaking the taboo around the subject in Chinese culture and encouraging other victims of sexual abuse to seek help.


Agencies

Russian President Vladimir Putin gives a speech during the meeting with his authorized representatives ahead of the presidential elections in March at the Gostiny Dvor shopping mall in Moscow, Russia, Jan. 30, 2018. (XinhuaWu Zhuang)

MOSCOW, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Russia is still ready to mend tieswith the United States despite the prospect of new sanctionsbrought by Washington's newly released "Kremlin list," RussianPresident Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.


The U.S. Treasury Department late Monday published a list of 114Russian political figures and 96 business leaders widely seen aspotential targets for new sanctions, although the documentspecifies that it sho. Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China Cheap Wholesale Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys China Free Shipping Cheap Wholesale NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys