By PETER NJENGA 

Gold medallists Ezra Sambu (left) and Henry Wanyoike at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Friday night after their arrival from Abuja. Sambu won the 400m and Wanyoike, who is blind, the 1,500m in the sports for the disabled. Photo by Chris Omollo

The second batch of 60 athletes arrived in Nairobi on Friday night to a low key reception attended only by government luminaries.

But they were compensated with a rare treat from traditional dancers who brought human traffic at the airport to a standstill and forced everybody to sip the traditional fermented milk mursik, and this appeared to be an intimidating experience for some.

Some didn't know how it would taste, like badminton players Anne Njambi and Angali Dudka who rinsed their mouths soon after in the airport washrooms.

"It is bitter like quinine." Njambi, her tongue stinging, said.

In comparison the athletes, most of whom come from a mursik relishing community, had no problems. 

Entranced tourists photographed the dancers or posed with them.

The first person to come off the plane was boxer Suleiman Bilali, wrapped in the national flag. He shadow boxed for the cameras.

Speaking in sheng (a corrupted form of English), Bilali said: "I beat that guy with furious body blows before finishing him with an upper cut.

"Since I have qualified for the Olympics. I will rest a bit before embarking on further training." 

Bilali disclosed he has been offered a six months boxing scholarship in Tunisia after winning his gold medal at the Abuja, All Africa Games.

He is set to travel to Tunis in January.

Bilali said the scholarship would help him prepare for the Athens Olympics where he will try to emulate his elder brother Ibrahim and the late Robert Wangila, Africa's first Olympics gold medallist in 1988. His brother won a bronze at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

His colleagues David Munyasia and Daniel Shisia who won bronze medals said they will train extra hard for the Africa championships to also try and qualify for the Olympics.

Abuja was their biggest experience, fighting at the Hilton Hotel.

They will leave for Mumbai, India on Tuesday for the first Afro-Asian Games together with all the 22 medallists.

Njambi said despite finishing seventh out of nine teams, the games were an eye opener. Kenyans, she said were living in a different era compared to other leading countries in this sport.

They went to Nigeria wearing shoes with a heavy grip soles but found out that badminton courts have different surfaces compared to the hard concrete at Nairobi clubs.

"We could hardly move while our opponents with smoother soled shoes danced." she said.

"We have been using plastic shuttlecocks while in Abuja they used bird feathered corks. I believe if we are to make any headway we must keep up with the times."

Table tennis player Fahd Daim expressed similar sentiments. Kenya produced its best performance ever by reaching the quarter finals.

 The Nigerians had trained in Europe compared to the Kenyans whose training was at Arya Club in Parklands.

Blind athlete Henry Wanyoike was in such spectacular form that he lapped the opposition in the 1,500m race. Athletes complained of exhaustion.

Comments\Views about this article