National team athlete, Gervais Hakizimana has expressed his disappointment for being dropped from the Africa Senior Athletics Championship bound team. The continental championship, which enters its 16th edition, is scheduled for April 30-May 5 in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. By the time the team was named, I was training in Kenya. You can’t train here and expect to win at an international championship. I had to go to Kenya for better training and I feel I have the form and potential to achieve the minimum for the Olympics Games in Addis Ababa, Hakizimana stated. The 24-year-old was left out of the team on allegations that he traveled to Kenya (for training) without the consent of the local athletics governing body, RAF and his club APR, something he doesn’t deny but remains adamant it was the best option for him. Asked on what led him to travel to Kenya without the blessing of the federation as well as his club, he said, I went to Kenya to train for the 3000m steeplechase, which we don’t have here in Rwanda yet Kenya has the best athletes in the discipline. He revealed how he discussed his plans with the athletics federation president Jean Pierre Munyandamutsa who in turn referred him to the secretary general Appolinaire Munyangoga. Unfortunately, both Munyandamutsa and Munyangoga were not available for comments by press time. Hakizimana was among the national athletes who missed last month’s World Cross Country Championship in Edinburgh, Scotland. And he says that missing the African championship will only undermine his desire to represent his country at the highest level. Ends
