Commonwealth Games 2010 : Kenya's Medal Hopes

2 days to go; we shall look at what medal hopes Kenya has hoping to work some magic and join the Commonwealth nations in throwing a great party in New Delhi. Much work has been done by the Indian authorities trying to get some reprieve from the hostile media coverage and even gotten fair endorsement from the IOC supremo Jacques Rogge. 
We have also had our reservations but let's give our Asian brothers the benefit of doubt to put out something memorable.What chances do we have of beating the 2006 medal haul of 6 gold, 5 silver and 7 bronze medals? Here's our take (DISCLAIMER: nothing scientific in determining this...);


Athletics:
This is our forte and shall continue being for the longest time. A great team assembled but some withdrawals from the 800m pair of David Rudisha and Janeth Jepkosgei ( and injury to Pamela Jelimo) means the star performers are reduced. There are also a couple of star athletes who gave the Games a miss for one reason or the other.

Ezekiel Kemboi - Kenya's Team Captain & 3000m medal prospect

Men 
800m:- (Silver) ; 1500m:-(Gold & Silver) ; 3000m:-(Gold & Silver) ; 5000m:- (Silver) ; 10000m:-(Bronze)
4x400m:- (Bronze) ; Marathon (none)
Women
800m:- (none); 1500m:-(Gold); 5000m (Gold); 10000m (Silver)
Total Count : 4 Gold 5 Silver & 2 Bronze

Swimming:
This is ahead of traditional boxing because for the first time we have real medal prospects in the name of the Dunford ( David & Jason) brothers. Hoping the Australians, Britons and Canadians have a bad day in the temperate conditions of the Asian sub-continent, 1 silver; 1 bronze  (make that 1 gold & 1 silver and a bronze) look like possibilities.

Boxing:
With the team heavily depleted and lacking in technical expertise, we don't foresee any medal hopes here. There might a chance of a Quarter-finalist at best.

Rugby:

Kenya 7s rugby team - courtesy of orange.co.ke 

We have a great 7-a-side team playing great rugby and impressing on the IRB Sevens circuit. But when you have such powerhouses as New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Samoa and others such as Wales and England, any medal hopes quickly vanish.The instability drawn from the team's selection and fairly average performance in the IRB 7s 2009-10 season also slow down any progress we would have made. Don't underrate our boys though, at least they will pull one or two upsets. Check out this blog for more analysis on the Kenyan rugby team www.rugbykenya.blogspot.com.

While we are represented in at least 6 other disciplines, none of these shall attract any medals and thus in all fairness ends our hopes. Sceptics we maybe but that's what the reality of the team's preparations put us. In total we foresee a total medal haul of 4 Gold, 6 Silver and 3 Bronze. Any bets on this? Sunday 3rd October the Games begin....for updates check the official site here http://www.cwgdelhi2010.org/.