He ditched Kenya and now he is paying for it: No country wants him in competitions

Konchella throws spanner in the works

By Mutwiri Mutuota

Yusuf Saad Kamel, the Kenyan-born Bahrain athlete who was keen to compete for his nation of birth after falling out with his adopted Gulf State, has erased all chances of ever running in Kenyan colours.

This follows his dramatic move to feature under Bahrain at last week’s Athletissima Meeting in Lausanne where Kamel ran 1:47.42 for ninth in the men’s 800m despite protracted efforts of securing his release from the Middle East state almost drawing to conclusion.

Born Gregory Konchellah, the fifth finisher at Beijing Olympics had bitter fallout with Bahrain Athletics Association (BAA) at the end of last year over unpaid salaries and bonuses.

The 26-year-old then sought help from Athletics Kenya (AK) and Government as he launched the process of quitting Bahrain to regain his Kenyan citizenship.

Speaking to FeverPitch, AK announced they had formally abandoned efforts to secure Kamel’s release, effectively extinguishing any hopes the athlete harboured of competing under his country of birth.

“We have given up on him since we can’t understand why he went ahead to compete before we concluded the process of bringing him back,” a disappointed AK chair, Isaiah Kiplagat said on Monday.

“We contacted IAAF’s general secretary, Pierre Weiss who gave us the go ahead to write to Bahrain to release Gregory which we did and we were waiting for their response.

“I’m not sure what arrangements Bahrain then made with him for Gregory to agree to compete for them,” he charged.

AK secretary, David Okeyo added: “We were surprised he ran in Lausanne meaning he was entered by Bahrain since clearance by a federation is needed for such events.”

When contacted, Kamel’s father and two-time world 800m champion, Billy Konchellah expressed astonishment at his son’s apparent about turn on the affair.

Adopted country

“I don’t know what is going on and I was very surprised he competed in Lausanne under Bahrain. There was no indication he would run for them again,” Konchellah said.

“I will try to establish with him why he competed for them. At the moment, he is not in the country,” he added.

Following his widely publicised denunciation of his adopted country, Bahrain withheld Kamel’s Kenyan passport early this year meaning he could not compete.

The dispute saw BAA and AK exchange harsh words as Kamel vied to compete for his country of birth alongside several other naturalised Kenyan runners who accused Bahrain of reneging on contracts and cheating them off their earnings.

Before he left the country a fortnight ago, Kamel intimated to FeverPitch his desire to compete for Kenya upon the release of his passport by Bahrain.

“I’m training and aiming at securing a place in the World Championships squad,” Konchellah had said at the time.

source.standard.ke